


Compass

by softgrungeprophet



Series: Compass [3]
Category: Carnage (Comics), Venom (Comics), Venom: First Host - Fandom
Genre: Abstract, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety, Arguing, Awkwardness, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Bonding, Boys Being Boys, Canon-Typical Violence, Captivity, Christmas Party, Comic Book Science, Conversations, Crushes, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dancing, Deus Ex Machina, Dreams, Dreams and Nightmares, Driving, Drowning, Eavesdropping, Emotional Constipation, Ethics, Exhaustion, Eye Trauma, F/F, Family, Family Dynamics, First Meetings, Flirting, Food, Found Family, Gen, Girls Kissing, Goodbyes, Grief/Mourning, Gun Violence, Happy Ending, Heroism, Homesickness, Hospitals, Hotels, Implied Past Abuse, Insomnia, Introspection, Killing, Medical Experimentation, Medical Procedures, Medication, Men Crying, Mental Link, Minor Character Death, Moral Ambiguity, Non-Graphic Violence, Other, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Reunions, Sea Monsters, Separation Anxiety, Symbolism, Teasing, Temporary Character Death, Tourism, Transformation, Travel, Underwater, dog symbiote, extra-sensory perception, i guess??, implied suicide mention, like almost literally, memory sharing, paternal eddie brock, shouting, the universe - Freeform, worm symbiotes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-13 12:26:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 27,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16892598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softgrungeprophet/pseuds/softgrungeprophet
Summary: She still felt them, sometimes, but in the way a body feels its organs, unnoticeable but present as part of a larger machine.Or:Jubulile van Scotter is the chosen one, and her family is much bigger than she ever could have known.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Be sure to check the little content/tag summary at the beginning of each chapter. Gives you a general idea of what the chapter is about and I make sure to put warnings there for potentially upsetting things.
> 
> I have not just one spotify playlist that I listen to while I write, but _five_.
> 
> The main playlist for this story is here: [link](https://open.spotify.com/user/1276132741/playlist/4zTXdocBg2DNZeKjTuLgmT?si=sVvI92wfRd-qoc_UzY2BIA)
> 
>  
> 
> In addition I have character playlists which are not _strictly_ for the story but which I've been listening to while I work on it:  
> Jubulile: [link](https://open.spotify.com/user/1276132741/playlist/5Wu9PfsXMeX1HOWDcvB3DL?si=M_24jCMfQBesIE-fd0Z_JQ)  
> Eddie: [link](https://open.spotify.com/user/1276132741/playlist/2KZv2mTBogjDaau07w3K0B?si=gqLv3TCcS6au4T7HsEyc0w)  
> Andi: [link](https://open.spotify.com/user/1276132741/playlist/3jxVThVe7Ruj5TuxMxGF0b?si=wfvkrJvTSomirPF620Nd4w)  
> Flash: [link](https://open.spotify.com/user/1276132741/playlist/1AhVeiHskzGTiSraYjzG9I?si=rANH4NBQTv61oK1wn0SEqA)

There was something... pulling at her mind. Traces of mixed consciousness and memories not her own, drawing her on. And a new presence in the dim compass that symbiotic thought provided. Faded and distant, of course—the graceful hybrid, a goddess of lavender, had long since dissipated, taking Toxin and Raze and Carnage's root cutting along with it, leaving Jubulile almost the way she had been before her father's boat burned on the surface of the sea. She still felt them, sometimes, but in the way a body feels its organs, unnoticeable but present as part of a larger machine. Papercuts and scrapes mended faster, she ate more, but other than that... Nothing.

And yet, the compass.

Compass being the best word she could describe it as. Pointing toward something, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, just an urge to go in a direction until she found what she was looking for. But what was she looking for? What did it point to? It wasn't just her desire to travel and learn and explore, it was new.

She had nightmares too, ever since she left the others at the airport.

Swimming memories from Eddie Brock, from Claire Dixon, from Cletus Kasady, of course. During the night terrors and the hazy dreams her compass spun wildly, stopping here and there when certain moments came to the fore—a multi-view angle on Brock and the symbiote she had only ever heard mentioned briefly, blazing toward each other like comets in a shared orbit... and that pulled _strong_. Filled her with grief for her father when she woke sweaty in the night. But her mother always comforted her, when it got too much, too emotional.

On the nights when she dreamed of a slick-fleshed dragon and the reaching fingers of God.

But then it stopped, one day, and the dreams dwindled, and she dreamed only once more of Venom, and the compass only barely pulsed, like a dying heartbeat.

Jubulile woke with tears on her face, to the smell of her mother cooking breakfast, and the sound of her gentle singing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jubulile is approximately 20 years old, and the end of her nightmares coincides with Venom's half-dead rampage (between issues #6 and #7 of the Cates run).
> 
>  
> 
> She had, indeed, been dreaming of Knull for several years before everyone else. She is very perceptive, even without three symbiotes sleeping in her body.


	2. The Death of Tel-Kar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They meet in an alleyway in South Africa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for brief violence, blood and the distress that accompanies it.

**Three days later** :

On her way home, Jubulile felt that pull again. Stronger than usual—it stopped her in her tracks, in the middle of the street. Not the pull of Venom, not the pull of Carnage. Unfamiliar, passing in and out of her mind in waves, turning her head toward the narrow space between two buildings. She hoisted her bag on her shoulder, set her jaw, and walked in the direction it pushed her.

It was quiet, still. Late afternoon sunlight slid down to cut a line across the side of one building, the other in blue shadow.

Jubulile slowed, stepping forward tentatively. "Hello...?"Her chest felt tight with some strange familiarity. "Is someone there?" She turned herself in a slow circle, a compass needle sweeping around for some destination—

" **Hello.** "

Jubulile yelped and threw her fists up in self-defense as she spun to face...

A hosted symbiote?

They were sleek, like science fiction, with eyes like red glass costume jewelry, and acid-bright markings across the black of their chest, their face. Jubulile backed away, slightly, as she stared at them. They didn't move closer. Threw her stare right back at her, with a shift in posture. Finally, they lifted one arm, reaching out their hand.

" **Do not be afraid.** "

She was not... afraid, exactly. Nervous, yes. And a little giddy.

She stifled a small smile, as she lowered her hands. The creature's fingers looked like under-ripe bananas. She didn't say so, of course. Instead—"Who are you?"

They blinked at her, and she realized she had never seen a symbiotic person blink before.

" **I am Sleeper.** " They didn't have a mouth, and their voice seemed to come from the holes in their cheeks, reverberating in that familiar set of layered treble and bass, somewhere in there a man's voice with an unfamiliar accent and cadence.

Jubulile held out her hand as well. "I'm Jubulile van—"

" **I know who you are.** " Sleeper stepped forward, a liquid motion, and the two of them, Jubulile and Sleeper in the sun-shaded alley, clasped each other's hands in some approximation of a handshake. " **My father held fond memories of you.** "

That compass-drumming went wild. Sleeper pooled around her wrist, and she brought her hands together to hold it close, against the striped fabric of her shirt, against her chest. She spoke, softly.

"I feel like I know you, too..."

Their heartbeats synchronized, if one could call them heartbeats any more than the pulse of their thoughts and emotions. Black and green sank into her palms, into her arteries, into her ribcage, and her breathing shifted as this familiar-unfamiliar symbiote coalesced around her. Were they Sleeper, together? It didn't seem quite like that. Not like the others, like becoming one with the divine hybrid, but neither did it feel like harboring that piece of Carnage in her eyes and thoughts.

[ **We are Sleeper and Jubulile and we are something slightly more.** ]

It was only then that Jubulile saw the man before her—he had fallen to the ground, though he appeared to be alive. Breathing, at least, with blue skin and long white hair past his shoulders, fanned out across the pavement.

As Sleeper receded into her bones, she asked, "Who is that?"

A complex mixture of emotions zipped up her spine and into the forefront of her brain, and rather than use words, Sleeper pressed memories into her mind. A woman with long black hair and green skin; bright stars streaking alongside a small craft; smoke and blood; broken glass and bedsheets; the blue man taunting a human man with blonde hair—

Jubulile reached for the side of the building to support herself, with a soft gasp.

"You're—Eddie's—?"

Two figures stood in her mind's eye, half overlaid across the wall against which she leaned. One was Eddie Brock, and the other a curl of blackness, and then they twirled together into one grinning being like some kind of fluid waltz.

Venom.

Jubulile screwed her eyes shut as she regained her balance and all those images and memories faded away. She caught her breath, and said, "Both of them..."

She turned her attention back to the man on the ground—Tel-Kar. His hair had grown out since the brief scene Sleeper had shown her, but it was clearly him.

[ **He is comatose**.]

"Oh. You're not..." Jubulile crossed her arms in front of her chest, drawing her shoulders tight. "You're not going to lobotomize me, too?"

Psychic laughter trilled goosebumps up her arms and infectiously put a smile onto her face as Sleeper said, [ **No. You are a good person.** ]

A small reassurance...

Quickly broken when a tendril of smooth black lashed out from Jubulile's own arm and stiffened into a spike—right through Tel-Kar's skull.

She let out a small, strangled sound at the motion. Deep red soaked the ground around his head, a spreading halo as Sleeper withdrew, the cool melt of symbiosis through her flesh. She covered her mouth, averted her eyes, took one step backwards—two, three steps before running just to get away. Confusion and distress and anger and fear and self-righteous satisfaction all roiled around each other in her gut, a turmoil with unclear origin all smashed together into a back-and-forth. She only stopped when she reached home, and was glad that her mother had gone out to the market and would not inquire after her wellbeing.

With the lights off and the curtains drawn, Jubulile stood with heaving chest and unsteady knees. Her calves ached, her side ached, her throat ached.

[ **Why are you upset?** ]

She shook her head. "You _killed_ him." Her voice shook as she worked to catch her breath, as she let herself sink down into her bed.

That man was no eldritch god, no otherworldly force. Nor was Sleeper's act self-defense, like burning down a boat.

[ **He was genocidal.** ]

Another of those memories, taunting and promising a wasted-away Hell of plague and mass extinction.

Jubulile pressed her face into the sheets.

"He deserved it?"

[ **He deserved it.** ]

"Please," She rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. "If there is a next time—I don't want there to be a next time, but if there is, please talk to me."

A thoughtful silence passed between them before Sleeper wrapped itself down her arm and around her hand, weaving their fingers together with a gentle murmur of reassurance, comfort, and affection. Jubulile pulled their joined hands to her chest and curled up on her side with a sigh, taking it in. It felt familiar—in some ways like the way her mother might hold her, but in other ways, a different kind of familiarity.

Through memories of memories, Sleeper told her that this was how their parent comforted their father, and in turn, in some disconnected way, how their father comforted them; and so, they comforted her with the secondhand paternal love of Eddie Brock, the thirdhand love of the Venom symbiote.

At some point, in the embrace of so many phantoms, Jubulile must have fallen asleep.

She found herself woken by her mother's soft touch.

"Jubulile, dear one." She squeezed Jubulile's shoulder. "You must have had a long day, but it's time to eat."

"Mama..." Jubulile sat up and smiled. She felt like she had ran a marathon, and perhaps she had. Perhaps a more apt comparison was that she felt like she had been hit by a truck. "I'm sorry, I should have helped you—"

"Nonsense." Amahle smiled back. "You were so fast asleep, I could never have woken you."

Jubulile laughed, quietly.

Within her, Sleeper hummed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's how they look together:  
>   
> It's from my original tumblr post that spawned this whoooole fic: [link](http://hoardlikegoldenirises.tumblr.com/post/180322032712)


	3. San Francisco

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> San Francisco was awash with sunlight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content for this chapter includes:  
> Discussion of morals, ethics, murder and mercy; parent-child reunion; and crying.
> 
> This takes place slightly before, during and immediately after the final chapter of Blow by Blow ([Stone in the gut](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16941639/chapters/39998649)).

**Three weeks later (December)** :

"What is our rule, hm?"

The waves moved in white ripples far, far below. Jubulile had been in planes before, of course, but something about being on level with the clouds and looking down on the coastlines and the breaking waves and the grids of towns where people must have been bustling around made her feel... very small.

Sleeper thrummed. [ **Leaving someone alive can be more cruel than death**.]

Jubulile rolled her eyes.

[ **But... it is not our decision alone. Even if it seems to be a mercy, even if they want to die, their life is still worth something.** ]

"Because every person on the planet means something." Jubulile sighed, then. "But there are also people who are genuinely, truly awful, cruel, and unforgiveable."

The past few weeks they had gone over this like a mantra, and Jubulile had shown Sleeper history books and academic blogs and online threads made by the people excluded from the other two. Sleeper's parents had taught them many things, instilling their own sense of morality into its understanding. But Jubulile knew Eddie. Knew his flaws and how he struggled for forgiveness, and knew also that he preferred to _deflect_.

The Venom symbiote, she could not say.

It seemed to desire heroism... but...

Sleeper was _sheltered_.

They knew more about medical dramas than history. More about crime novels than real crime.

[ **There is a line which, when crossed, cannot be uncrossed.** ]

"And we must respond to that, to protect those who might otherwise be harmed."

[ **The line is genocide.** ]

She let her eyes close, as she whispered to Sleeper, "Yes. The line is genocide. Rape, war, torture, enslavement..." Open again, looking out on the wide open sky, the drifting clouds. "You are too clever for your own good."

[ **I did to Tel-Kar what he did and would have done to my parents.** ]

"...Yes."

Violence for violence, domination for domination.

Another passenger glanced over at Jubulile, but paid her little mind other than that brief spike of curiosity. She pressed her hand to her chest.

[ **He crossed two of those lines.** ]

"I see that, now."

If _she_ could have throttled her father's figurative attacker, if illness had a corporeal form, would she have acted similarly?

What Sleeper had done to Tel-Kar was horrific, certainly, but at what point can you say cruelty deserves mercy, still? At what point can you say that twice-attempted mass-murder deserves forgiveness? Physical and emotional subjugation, threats on threats on threats—at what point can you say that throwing a woman out a window only for distraction deserves _mercy_? Even if she lived. At what point does that all unravel?

If a soldier walks into a home, and says to a man and his spouse, "Come with me or I will kidnap your child," is that just? If he takes the spouse and treats them as his object, all while seeking to eradicate an entire race from existence, is that just? If he does that all twice over with no thought for consequences, is that _just_ in any way?

No.

And so... she couldn't say that what Sleeper had done was wrong, because the more she processed, the more she realized the irony of it all. And frankly, after seeing Sleeper's memories of the man's actions, she felt very little sympathy for him.

Jubulile leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes. Even while silent, she felt Sleeper within her, if she focused just right. Like becoming conscious of the way your tongue sits in the arc of your teeth. And below that, extra-sensory, she felt a series of compass pulls, her own instinct enhanced by Sleeper into something fine-tuned despite its fadedness. One in particular pinched tightly, weaker than the rest but inexorable, nurturing, and full of suffering. She had to really focus to feel it, but it was there.

The closer they got to California, the more it crawled up the back of her neck and along her nailbeds.

It was a dull, throbbing feeling very different from what she had felt from Sleeper.

And Sleeper worried at it, picking through the sensation as if they could interpret it like a dream or a horoscope, translate it like encoded language. Of course, nothing gave. It functioned as a tracker, barely anything more. Like a fitness watch that counted the wearer's steps and timed their heartrate but could never fully tell you what they might actually be going through.

***

San Francisco was awash with sunlight, when they landed.

It was _cold_.

"I forgot that the seasons are backwards here." Summer back home, and here just 10 Celsius—raising goosebumps up her arms and legs until Sleeper wrapped itself around her as a sweatshirt across her shoulders and thick leggings beneath her shorts. She smiled, an unspoken "thank you" between them as they headed up the road, suitcase thunking across the cracks of the sidewalk.

Stronger, stronger that roaring pulse, and intertwining with it something sharper and angrier and dripping with sadness and longing. All very human, very powerful, drowning out the weak drone of the other, though they seemed entwined.

Suddenly, Sleeper absorbed her in a rush of green and black flesh, dropping her suitcase with a clatter, and through their eyes the slightest red edged their vision. Something clutched in their shared chest as the dullness stayed dull and the mourning built stronger and stronger until—

" **Father?** "

Eddie Brock turned with the strangest expression, as if he had seen a ghost, eyes wide and forehead creasing, and then he froze.

And then his knees gave way beneath him.

" **Father!** " and "Eddie!" both meshed into one garbled word, as Sleeper-and-Jubulile rushed to support him. To hold his face between their hands, claws softening.

He mirrored their posture, pressing his palms to the sides of their face, covering the open holes of their jaw. His hair was so short, and he'd grown a beard, and he looked at them like a man dying of thirst and surrounded only by saltwater. His shoulders sagged with an imaginary weight, and finally he whispered, " _Sweetheart_."

His arms wrapped around them in a tight embrace. Bone-crushing, if that were ever an issue. One hand dug into the hair-like anemone of tendrils at the back of Sleeper's head, the other tight around their waist as he cradled them. They let their head rest on his shoulder. Let him hold them like a baby as his breath caught in his throat.

No one seemed to notice. Each and every person on the street walked past as if this reunion were invisible.

After a long time, he let them go.

" **Why are you crying?** "

Eddie stared at them as if he could write a copy of their smooth features with his eyes. "Because I love you."

" **Why is my other parent silent?** "

That sadness, like a tide washing over them. Loss. Anger. He looked away. "I can't—Not here." Back again, full of pain. " _Please_."

" **Fine**."

They had an inkling, sitting heavy in their gut. Neither of them truly wanted to confront that, not yet, and the two of them as one was no more eager. They reached up together and pulled Sleeper down from Jubulile's face until she knelt before Eddie in a green hoodie and her normal clothes with her eyebrows drawn together.

Eddie breathed out.

She smiled at him.

He smiled too, but tightly, before saying, "You're a long way from home." His smile gentled and dissipated, as he reached out to clasp her arm and they stood together. "Won't your mother be worried about you, all the way up here?"

Something in Sleeper's thoughts trembled in the back of Jubulile's brain. "Ah." She held her finger up. "I have been saving to travel the world." Push the worry back, don't think about it.

"So why are you _here_?" Eddie glanced at the green fabric covering her shoulders. "With... them."

Jubulile looked down at her hand, turning it around until a slim black tendril peeked out from her sleeve, across her palm. She looked back up at Eddie and said, "I think they missed you."

He made a face. "That so?"

Then, more softly, said, "Thank you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have 20k written in total right now, and probably a good.... 5-10k left to do, but I feel confident that I can start gradually uploading the earliest chapters, having tweaked them well enough...
> 
> Man, not really related but I saw _Into the Spiderverse_ two days ago and you guys? Holy shit. If I can make anything even half as fantastic, a quarter as fantastic, as that movie? I'm good. It was, I think genuinely the best movie I have ever seen. Holy shit. I've been listening to the soundtrack as I solidify the plot for this story and it's got me INSPIRED. Fuck.
> 
> Anyway I hope you enjoy :3


	4. I'm so sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He whispered words Jubulile couldn't make out, a lullaby of intangible syllables, a little bit broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contents:  
> Food (i know...), general avoidance of talking about one's problems, more crying, grief...

A little bit of mole poblano plopped onto the picnic table, and Jubulile wiped it up with her paper napkin, spoon in her mouth. She watched Eddie, as she ate, and he watched the people passing by their bench.

They sat in silence, while Jubulile finished her food. Eddie himself had already gone through the entire basket of complementary corn chips, plus three fish tacos, now nursing a cardboard takeaway cup of hot chocolate that steamed into the air. A cluster of pigeons bobbed nearby, picking crumbs from the ground. Her suitcase sat leaned against the side of the table.

Quietly, Sleeper wrapped around Jubulile's arm in a curl, blinking open jam-red eyes but otherwise faceless and unmarked.

[ **Father...** ]

Eddie turned to face them, and Jubulile looked down at her arm as well.

[ **Why are _you_ here?**]

A mirror of his own, earlier question.

Eddie almost smiled, at that.

But he didn't.

"I'm on the run." He ran a hand up his own arm, half-thoughtful as he smoothed down his sleeve. "As always."

Jubulile and Sleeper met each other's eyes briefly before both leveling a stern stare on Eddie.

"Eddie Brock," Jubulile set her fork down and crossed her arms, emphasis on the name. "Are you okay?"

Finally, Eddie laughed, though it rang bitter and unamused. He shook his head. "No." He looked down at his hands. "I'm not okay."

They couldn't let that simply slide. He was their _father_. Well, one of theirs, anyway. Jubulile reached out and touched the back of his hand. "Eddie..." She couldn't hide the obvious worry from her face, and she could tell he noticed. "Do you have anywhere to stay?"

"No." It seemed more than just an answer to her question. A denial of her intent in advance.

She grabbed his hand, firmly. "We are getting a hotel room. Stay with us."

" _No_. I know some people, I won't burden you with... this."

Expected but ridiculous! Jubulile tapped her fingers once against his knuckles to punctuate her words as she said, "Sleeper is worried. _I_ am worried. I'm spending the money anyway, so please stay with us at least for tonight. If not because I am offering, then because your child needs you."

And for further leverage, "You helped me once, let me help you."

[ **Please, father.** ]

Eddie deflated under their synchronized puppy-dog eyes. "Fine."

It was nothing fancy, especially on fairly short notice. A Motel 6 separated from a busy road by a chain link fence and half-dead hedges. The twin beds took up almost the entire room, just a foot of space between them and a narrow space leading to the bathroom. Most of that was taken up by the TV and a counter with shelves above it, holding threadbare white towels. Jubulile dumped her suitcase onto the bed closer to the bathroom.

Eddie stood at the foot of the bed by the window, studying the pile of pillows before muttering, "Gonna take a shower."

"Sure." She smiled at him, and sat on the bed as he walked past.

Sleeper squirmed with dissatisfaction in her ribcage. 

[ **Something is very wrong.** ]

"I know." Jubulile embraced Sleeper as it bubbled out of her chest, forming a shape almost like some kind of sea slug, constantly sprouting and absorbing filaments in the waves of an unseen current. Cool and sleek and not damp but almost feeling it—not unlike the so-called "space mud" sold in plastic cups, liquid-not-liquid and glossy. She ran her hand along their flank. It was a little strange, at first, as echoes of her own touch slipped through their link, but she became accustomed to it surprisingly fast. And Sleeper seemed to appreciate the physical touch and affection, rippling with a calmed satisfaction.

Most importantly, her touch soothed their worries, at least temporarily.

Eddie spent a long time in the bathroom.

The pipes creaked and Jubulile lay back on the bed with the TV turned to some children's cartoon and Sleeper across her chest and shoulders like a blanket. She almost fell asleep like that, quiet, but on the verge of unconsciousness the bathroom door opened and Eddie emerged in a cloud of steam. She watched him as he walked to the door—he checked the locks, he checked the window, and finally sat on the edge of his claimed bed, facing hers.

She sat up.

"Will yo **u** t **a** l **k** **to** **us now**?" They spoke together, Sleeper surrounding Jubulile and extending her limbs and her senses. " **Will you tell us what's going on?** "

He looked so tired.

" **Father, do not shelter me. Keep no secrets between the four of us.** "

Eddie's eyebrows knit tight together and he bowed his head. He held out his arms, palms upward in supplication as he whispered, "C'mere."

Sleeper flowed forth from Jubulile in a surge, a tug that suddenly evaporated, leaving her feeling strangely alone despite the deeply buried dregs of their cousins, siblings.

Black and green and beads of red twisted up Eddie's arms, around his shoulders, filling his embrace as his eyes closed. They did not merge, or join. Eddie simply held Sleeper like a child to his chest. His breathing went from steady to ragged, and Jubulile averted her eyes out of politeness.

She had seen him cry so much in one day, more than any other time they had spoken before.

Except then he let out a rasping, coughing, gasping sound—Jubulile whipped her head back around to see him slide off of the edge of his bed, to his knees on the thin carpet, as Sleeper bulged around his arms and recoiled against his hands. He curled around his child as if to keep them from leaving, and both trembled.

He whispered words Jubulile couldn't make out, a lullaby of intangible syllables, a little bit broken. Wrecked, with bruises beneath his eyes.

Jubulile was transfixed by their sorrow and tears welled up in her own eyes as well.

The air felt heavy. She didn’t _know_ what Eddie and Sleeper had shared in that brief moment, not really. Didn’t know what conversation they had spun. But at the same time, instinctually, she felt it anyway. Her mind drifted to her father, and if she hadn't already been moved to tears she probably would have then.

She reached out, uncertain what for. Comfort?

In a flash, a blink, Sleeper engulfed her. Coiling tight around her heartstrings, they seethed and boiled into a cocktail of intense emotions. And she knew, then. She knew.

"I'm so sorry..."

Eddie's fingers clawed through his short hair, but he said nothing. Offered only the silent shaking of his shoulders, sitting on the floor in the half-lit shadows of their motel room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eddie's not doing so hot lol  
> it'll be okay, though


	5. Shining

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What are you going to do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt bad just leaving it at that very short sad chapter, and since I have.... 17 chapters done already, I figured I'd add #5 real quick too lol....
> 
> Contents:  
> Tourism and discussion of family.

"Show me around your hometown."

Not a question. A demand. Jubulile was, arguably, here to be a tourist, and she wasn't about to just drop everything she'd been planning over the last two years because everyone was sad. She was tired of being sad, done with mourning. She wanted to see the sunset and remember happy times. She wanted to eat local food and walk until her feet hurt worse than her calves.

To his credit, Eddie took it in stride.

He took her to a farmers market and helped her parse symbiotic dietary needs—raw nuts, cured meats, fermented chocolate. He took her to the aquarium, and stood outside claiming claustrophobia but she knew it was because he couldn't afford to go in, and his pride would never let her pay for this on top of everything else. He took them down to the boardwalk and they stood together watching the water as the cold sea wind rolled across them. He took her to the Cable Car Museum, and accompanied her this time, because admission was free.

Someone mistook her for his daughter, and Jubulile laughed. (And so did Sleeper, an inaudible tickle up Jubulile's spine.) Eddie did not laugh, but he seemed calm.

"Eddie..." They were headed back, now. Jubulile was tired, but felt like she could've walked forever—Sleeper osmosing oxygen through her body, dissolving lactic acid as it formed. Barely even out of breath. But... still a _little_ out of breath. "What are you going to do?"

He frowned at her, much more winded despite his physical fitness. "I don't know."

"I thought I knew what I needed to do but now I don't know. I was angry... furious. But now... Now I'm just lost, and a little bit pathetic."

Jubulile stopped, tilting her head with her hands clasped behind her. Sleeper pushed out through her skin with a whiff of cloaking pheromones that caused the eyes of onlookers to slide away from them. Such an easy nudge.

They looked up at their father with an inscrutable expression.

" **Are you going to give up?** "

He sighed. "I don't think I know how." He put his hand on their shoulder.

That was good.

That stubbornness would be good.

Sleeper put their own hand over his. " **You have always been... tenacious**."

Eddie grinned, a little wild, maybe for the first time since Jubulile and Sleeper had set foot in San Francisco. "Sweetheart, you don't even know the half of it." He squeezed their shoulder once before letting his hand drop and taking a few steps up the street. He paused, nodded forward. "Come on."

Sleeper retreated into Jubulile's bloodstream and she followed after Eddie.

***

At the motel, they got down to business. Eddie didn't have a computer or a smartphone (or even a not-so-smart phone) but he had a pocket notebook and a leaky ballpoint pen. Jubulile had her tablet, and her journal, and a box of colored pencils.

"Why San Francisco, anyway?"

Eddie huffed. "I told you, I'm on the run." He tapped his pen against his mouth as he considered his notes. He sighed. "It's far from New York. I don't know. I grew up here. My father lives here."

She frowned, and glanced up at him, speaking as she scrolled through train schedules. "Your father?"

"Honestly, 'father' is a strong word—" Eddie paused. "I don't know why I thought I should see him..." He laughed bitterly to himself, under his breath.

Jubulile took a moment to pay for their tickets before turning to face him, cross-legged. Sleeper pooled in her lap as she said, " _Did_ you?" She stroked Sleeper like one might a sleeping cat. "See your father, I mean."

Eddie set his pen aside and drew one leg up, resting his chin on his knee as he considered the question. His eyes, as always, reflected strangely in the light.

"I didn't go."

They made eye contact.

"I, uh..."

Jubulile tilted her head, questioning in tandem with Sleeper's own curiosity.

"I went to see my sister in the hospital, instead." Eddie closed his eyes. "She... she's been through at least as much as me, if I'm honest. Practically raised me... no kid should have to do that, but she did, and it's not _fair_ , and I don't know how I can ever pay her back for it." He took a deep breath, steady but strained. "I thought I'd never hear her voice again but she called me a motherfucker and I don't think I've ever been so happy to be cussed out in my life."

Jubulile stifled a laugh.

"What?" He half-smiled, too, though, as he peeked at her with one eye. "It's true. I'd sit through a thousand blasphemes for her. Commit a few of my own, too."

"That's sweet." Jubulile pulled her knees up, squishing Sleeper's amorphous form to her chest. They curled a few tendrils around her arms and legs with a _mrrrp_ and she turned her gaze down to the sheets rumpled around her feet with a certain thoughtfulness. "My papa didn't really speak foul but... I know what you mean. If I could hear his voice again..."

Eddie pushed himself up, then. Moved over to the edge of the bed with a murmured, "Hey, Jubulile, I don't mean to bring up bad memories."

She shook her head, smile soft but still present. "I try to think of all the happiness we shared. Not to dwell on..." She waved a hand in a broad gesture, before tucking it back against her shin. "You know."

For a moment, they were both silent, only the sound of their individual breathing and the muted rumble of traffic outside.

Eddie's voice was very soft when he broke the silence. "Who the hell made you so wise?"

She grinned, ducking her head against Sleeper's calm body. If it could be called a body. It pulsed with respiration, though, just barely, and made a gentle squeaking sound.

Wisdom...

"Papa, of course." She twirled one of Sleeper's waving tentacles around her finger. "Mama, too. Both of them."

Sleeper sprouted eyes and rolled itself across her knees to stare at Eddie. Jubulile could feel their consideration, humming between her own thoughts. Snippets of memories; black tendrils playing with black tendrils, a voice low and indistinct but full of love, learning and being taught.

[ **Father**.]

Eddie looked up.

[ **We must not give up.** ]

His eyes saddened, just for a moment.

But then he set his jaw, hardened his face with that familiar stubbornness. A sharp nod, eyebrows heavy. Pupils shining like a cat's in the low light, turquoise-to-green-to-gold.

But what he said took both Jubulile and Sleeper by surprise.

"I want you to meet my sister."


	6. Intermission: I'm an excellent driver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flash Thompson hates driving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contents:  
> Driving anxiety.... mostly just that.
> 
> Peter makes a brief appearance (over the phone) but I'm not gonna tag him for such a small moment.  
> Mention of Lee Price, too.
> 
> not lee pace

Every time Flash Thompson got behind the wheel, he breathed a little shallower and every time, he felt a little bit sick to his stomach. Didn't matter how the rest of his day had been going. Good, bad? The second he turned the key in the ignition he started to sweat and his chest tightened. He put it off pretty well most of the time.

After all, he was a pretty good driver now.

But it made him anxious.

He wasn't exactly prone to acute anxiety, but boy he sure did have a panic attack the first day the instructor put him in the driver's seat. With Andi in the back, no less. He tried not to think about it too much, but sometimes, lying awake in bed at night... he'd think about it anyway. The lingering embarrassment and shame did _not_ help him get to sleep. Yet... miraculously, over the past two years, he'd only ever had one nightmare about driving. How he managed that...? Who the fuck knew. He wasn't about to look a gift-horse in the mouth, though.

And he'd gotten a lot better about managing himself in the car.

Right.

Because sitting at a stoplight on the verge of hyperventilation was "managing."

The light turned green and he pulled back on the accelerator enough to get him to the next road—enough to brake forward and park on the side of the road. Turn the engine off, lean his forehead against the wheel with a soft curse, trying hard to keep his breathing in check.

Don't think about it.

Having a car meant he could be more self-sufficient. No waiting for the ramp to touch the sidewalk, no sitting on the bus relying on strangers, no finagling schedules to time everything perfectly, no leaving an hour and a half early. He could come and go when he wanted, go where he wanted... Traffic allowing, of course.

He swallowed down a deep breath and realized he'd been holding the steering wheel in a death grip. He released his hold, joints sticking for just a second.

In... Out...

He was okay.

Good at parking, always used his turn signal.

Sober.

His phone rang. He took a moment to collect himself and grabbed it from the cup holder—

"Eugene Thompson speaking." His voice came out deceptively steady. Force of habit.

"Hey," It was Peter. "You asked me to keep an eye out on that Maniac guy for you, right?"

...Flash had actually forgotten about that particular request. But he could roll with it. "Sure."

"Yeah, well, a... friend of mine, if you can really call him that, he uh—Says he just saw him near the Upper East Side. Said he was, I dunno, sneaking around or something? Not actually _doing_ anything... just snooping."

Flash laughed. "You got a friend who frequents the Upper East Side?" He couldn't quite process the rest of what Peter had just told him.

"Not exactly." Peter paused. "I gave him your e-mail, if that's okay. So he can give you more information. I just thought I should let you know, first."

"I appreciate it." Flash leaned back in the seat with a sigh, rubbing his face with one hand. "Really. Thank you."

"Of course. I'll talk to you later."

"Sure. Bye, Pete." Flash hung up and slipped his phone back into the cup holder. He closed his eyes.

Lee Price, huh?

He'd have to check his email soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not actually sure what all is considered canon but it sounds like Flash has been in a couple of really awful car accidents, which I did not know before I wrote mmmooooosst of this story (lol) so I added this to take out a couple of birds with one stone...... I feel like this makes it seem like there will be a big plot with Lee but it's not really that dastardly it's just like... I wanted to establish it in advance so it doesn't come out of the blue, later on.
> 
> Also he's using a floor-mounted right-hand control. There'll be more on his car later tho.
> 
> also peter's friend/source is Deadpool. lmfao.
> 
>  
> 
> also (again) there are gonna be a few of these intermissions (about three more, out of... 20-something total), mostly from flash's POV but at least one from Eddie's scattered throughout this story.


	7. The gender-neutral term is nibling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've FINISHED writing so I'm gonna start uploading chapters for real over the next day or two. I'll probably hold off a little bit just to give myself a chance to re-read and tweak the second half...  
> Final product is about ~27k.
> 
>  
> 
> Chapter contents:  
> Family, hospitals, introductions, a train station...

The hospital was so quiet. It brought back... many memories, few of them fond. Jubulile found herself grateful not just for Eddie's solid presence at her side, but for Sleeper as well. Sleeper, buzzing away in her bone marrow, in her blood cells, constantly interfacing with her consciousness and parsing her emotions and thoughts and occasionally drawing forth a tiny breath from the others within her. A distraction, as she followed in Eddie's shadow down the sanitized, white hallway to Mary Brock's room.

Eddie knocked, and waited until a nurse poked her head out the door. She stared at him blankly.

"Eddie Brock, here to see my sister again."

She nodded, recognition pooling across her face. "And your guest?"

Eddie glanced down at Jubulile, with a glint in his eye—before she could stop him from saying exactly what she knew he would say—

"My daughter."

The nurse blinked. "O—oh." She looked between the two, uncertain. Opened her mouth, floundering like a fish in open air. "I—Yes, of course. Go right in."

She let them into the room. All linoleum and rough cotton and stainless steel. Softly beeping machinery and the barely-there hum of technology. Muted TV and the gentlest noise as Mary Brock noticed them. She didn't sit up, or move much at all. She looked tired, and skinny, with sunken cheeks and bruised eyes and long, long wavy hair. But she smiled.

"Hey, buttface."

Eddie wrinkled his nose. "Who're you calling buttface?" He looked at her with such admiration, adoration, relief. Awe and amazement, his shoulders relaxed and his forehead smooth for once. "I'm the _better_ looking sibling."

She snorted, and it was so apparent just where Eddie had gotten so many of his mannerisms.

"I heard you out there. You didn't tell me you had a daughter."

He shrugged. "You were in a coma." His smile was all teeth and a little peek of the tip of his tongue in contemplation—he seemed to be considering what to say. Finally, he shook his head with a sigh. "She's not my daughter. Uh, Mary—" He held one hand out to Mary, and placed his other on Jubulile's back. "This is Jubulile. She saved the world. Long story."

Jubulile smiled shyly, raising a hand in greeting. "Hi."

"I thought Jubilee was in the X-Men." Mary grinned wide, head tilting, teasing.

At Jubulile's side, Eddie huffed and looked heavenward. "Not Jubilee, Mary. _Jubulile_."

Her grin only widened.

"Jubulile van Scotter." Jubulile stepped forward and held out her hand. Mary shook it, hand warm and dry, though her grip was weak.

"Nice to meet you, Jubulile."

"And you." Jubulile let her go.

Before she could step back, Eddie cleared his throat. She glanced over at him, and he nodded as he spoke—"Mary, Jubulile may not be my daughter but..." He took a breath. "I have someone else I want you to meet."

Sleeper surged out from Jubulile in one graceful, singing movement, building up around her body and whirling into place. They blinked down at Mary, at her widened eyes and momentary shock. She seemed frozen, like a paused movie, before becoming unstuck in time to shoot Eddie a sharp look, nostrils flaring. "Eddie."

"Mary, just—" Eddie seemed... nervous. In his movements, his posture. The way his adam's apple moved as he swallowed. They could smell it on him, as well. Seeping through his pores. "I know, I probably should have kept this to myself but I wanted—I don't know. I just thought you, of all people, should know."

Mary seemed to calm down, then.

She nodded, letting her eyes close for a drawn-out moment before returning her gaze to Sleeper.

" **I am your...** " Sleeper looked away from Mary, suddenly struck with a confusion that Jubulile's knowledge could not satisfy.

Eddie raised an eyebrow. "What?"

" **Niece? Nephew?** " Spoken aloud, but also directed firmly toward Eddie in a mix of aerosols and curiosity. An unspoken [ **What am I?** ]

His face cleared. "Oh." Eddie covered his mouth with one hand as he thought. "You're my child. That's all that's ever mattered."

"Nibling."

Eddie and Sleeper both turned their attention to Mary in a snap, a laser-focus stare.

She raised one of her hands, to point at Sleeper. "The gender neutral term is nibling."

Eddie's eyebrows shot up, a look of incredulity and astonished amusement overtaking his face. "Wh—" He suppressed it as best he could, but it still cracked through into a crooked smile. " _Nibling_?"

Mary snickered.

" **I am your nibling.** "

She burst into outright laughter, at that. It was rasping and hoarse, but sweet and genuine, and as Sleeper suddenly receded, Jubulile found herself joining in—Eddie too, much deeper but almost breathless. Jubulile pressed a hand to her chest, so much of her prior nervousness dissipated into the ether... and she pressed an inquisitive thought toward Sleeper, toward their sudden retreat. They bubbled beneath her touch, wrapping around her fingers. Embarrassment... stubbornness... suddenly shy and self-conscious and _proud_.

Jubulile hugged herself, and by extension Sleeper, and pushed back reassurances as Mary and Eddie regained their composure. It took her a moment to realize they were watching her—she raised her head to see a knowing look in Eddie's eye, and something uncertain in Mary's.

"Oh—" Jubulile felt herself grow warm around the collar. She moved her hand to rub the back of her neck and muttered, "S-sorry."

"Hey, hey—" Eddie clapped her on the shoulder, gave it a squeeze. "It's fine."

Jubulile nodded.

 ***

"Remind me again—" Jubulile leaned back on her hands, scrunching her face up in thought. "Why Philadelphia?"

"I got a uh... _friend_ who lives here."

He didn't elaborate on that, didn't seem in the mood to talk at all, really, as they sat in the train station recovering from their three and a half day trip. He rolled his neck with a groan, letting his head fall back as he closed his eyes. Jubulile sighed and pushed herself to her feet, headed out in search of some kind of vending machine or something.

She found one, after a bit of poking around, but quickly realized she'd run out of American money. Somehow, she doubted the machine would take her coins... She leaned her forehead against the plexiglass with a grumble.

Under her skin, Sleeper murmured restlessly. She glanced down, as they pushed a tiny tendril from her knee and slipped it into the slot at the bottom of the machine. She slapped at her leg and hissed, "Stop that!" She glanced around in case anyone might be looking, but no one seemed to notice—too preoccupied with meeting up with their families for the holidays. "We're not going to steal _chips_."

Sleeper shot her a disappointed hum. [ **If you insist on being vapidly moral...** ]

 _Wow_.

Jubulile let out a huff of disbelief and shook her head before turning away.

She came back to her things safe on the bench and Eddie on one of the payphones talking to someone. He looked like a man both possessed and barely conscious, red-eyed and drooping with fatigue. He put off a whiff of relief, too, according to Sleeper's refined senses. And a dangerous lack of awareness—when he hung up and turned around, he actually startled on seeing Jubulile already back, without him having even _noticed_ her return.

She waved at him.

He let out a breath as he approached, dropping down beside her.

"I have a cellphone, you know." Jubulile dug it out of her pocket, just to make her point. "You could've just asked."

Sheepishly, he wrinkled his nose. "Guess I should've saved that quarter, huh?" He rubbed his face. "Flash's gonna pick us up soon."

"Alright." She assumed Flash must be the friend.

They both fell quiet.

Sleeper peeked out from her shoulder, leveling beady red eyes on Eddie before reaching out to bump a slug-like face against his arm with a purr. He flinched, then settled, then reached a hand up to stroke Sleeper's chin... or... Jubulile made a face as she thought.

Did slugs _have_ chins?

She supposed it didn't actually matter.

It was cute, though. Seeing Eddie so soft, interacting with his child.

Such a large, angular, angry man, but he looked at that little black and green worm with an almost overwhelming amount of paternal love. The face of a man who would do most anything to protect them from harm. Jubulile couldn't help but smile softly.

After a moment, Eddie noticed her watching.

He made a face. "What?"

"What?" Jubulile raised her eyebrows innocently.

He frowned. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

She suppressed a small laugh, covering her mouth.

He rolled his eyes.

Sleeper continued to rub up against his arm and shoulder, like a strange little slimy cat.

About thirty minutes passed before someone called Eddie's name.

All eyes turned toward a man in a wheelchair with his hand aloft who—just for a second—faltered. But he came closer with a friendly smile, and said, "How long's it been?" Addressed to Eddie, a little incredulous, a little accusatory. The "you son of a bitch" was implied.

"Two years?" Eddie clasped his arm, not really smiling but a little looser in the shoulders than usual. He glanced at Jubulile—nodded toward the man. "Jubulile, this is Flash Thompson. Flash," He put his hand on Jubulile's shoulder. "This is Jubulile van Scotter."

Flash smiled at Jubulile, very polite but still genuine and sunny as he shook her hand. "Good to meet you. You his... daughter, or what?" He had a latticework of scars fading up his neck, like lightning bolts.

" _Friend_. We met back in my uh... spaghetti monster days."

Were Toxin more than a drained remnant, it might have bristled. As it was, Jubulile felt only the mildest disturbance, like a brief turn of the stomach.

Flash raised an eyebrow. "Okay, well!" He clapped his hands together before backing up a little. "Let's get you guys out of this place. Feels like purgatory in here."

He wasn't wrong, between the winding lines of people and the unpleasant lighting... the white linoleum, white walls, and flickering exit signs all built up into a generally less-than-desirable experience. Jubulile grabbed her suitcase and let the wheels click-click-click across the tiled floors as she followed Flash out the train station, Eddie just behind her with a backpack slung over his shoulder.

Flash's car was slate gray and shaped almost completely like a box. But in a way that said "physically active" more than "environmentally conscious." Jubulile relinquished front seat privileges to Eddie's much longer legs and sat in the partially-collapsed backseat next to Flash's wheelchair, with her suitcase in the trunk. She didn't mind too much, as the heater kicked on and a little bit of warmth seeped into her bones—Sleeper helped, but she definitely hadn't come dressed for North American weather. Her foresight had not taken into account the angle of the globe.

The radio played quietly, barely discernible and certainly not recognizable, and while Jubulile managed to keep her eyes open, Eddie dozed in the front. Flash didn't try to make small talk, just mumbled with the music under his breath, occasionally pausing to push forward on the brake or lift himself up off the seat for a second. He seemed... anxious.

Eventually, he did speak. "He didn't kidnap you or anything, did he?" The way his mouth quirked, he was obviously joking, but some glint in his eyes felt a little more serious.

Jubulile shook her head. "No, we came to find him, actually."

"Yeah?" She could see him raise his eyebrows in the mirror. "Who's 'we'?"

Oh.

She looked down at her lap, hoping Sleeper would have an answer but she only got a calm thrum between her ribs—familiarity through memory, but they'd never met in Sleeper's life, and they didn't even know if Flash knew of their existence. Jubulile worried her bottom lip between her teeth as she considered how to answer. And of course, even when Flash looked away to keep his eyes on the road, she could tell he knew _something_.

"You don't have to tell me."

Jubulile twisted her mouth. "It's not that..."

"Yeah?"

"I think you should ask Eddie."

He frowned, but he shrugged in resignation, and said, "Hey, alright."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> note, Flash is driving a refurbished and refitted 2007 Honda Element ([link](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KOjOcIJRR5u9Is9zqCEEFgGQjIh7G4sV?usp=sharing)) with a right handed, floor mounted accelerator/brake. He probably has some kind of strap to help him get in and out of the driver's seat, as well. 
> 
> He's using a rigid wheelchair with detachable wheels and a collapsible backrest (though the chair itself is not collapsible) which he usually puts behind the driver's seat, with the backseat pushed up to make room for it so he doesn't have to take it apart or put it back together to drive—unless there are more than three people in the car, in which case someone has to put it in the trunk and take it back out for him (usually andi)
> 
> refs for how I've been picturing his chair: [link](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ghsyE535v1jSusi30hQRf8tEy6N3H1BA)
> 
> ALSO, Flash has Lichtenberg figure scars from being electrocuted by the Red Goblin. They cover the majority of his chest, back and shoulders, and become sparser up his neck and down his arms, though he has a few little bits on his face, hips, and hands. But it's December, so, he's a little too covered up to see anything more than the ends on his neck and jaw.
> 
>  
> 
> (Andi's in the _next_ chapter.)


	8. You remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Denial is a phase of grief but sometimes denial is correct.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contents:  
> Andi!!!  
> General awkwardness, implied arguing (behind closed doors), denial of grief, MORE introductions, dudes being dudes

"Thought you had those fancy new legs." Eddie rubbed at the spot between his neck and shoulder with a grimace, having set his ratty backpack on the floor beside the couch.

Flash snorted. "Didn't hold up to me being an idiot." He rolled his sleeves up, revealing further electrical scars all across his arms. "Snapped the fucking foot right off."

"No shit?"

"Language!" A woman with a face full of piercings and half her head shaved lay sprawled all across the couch. "Both of you." She grinned, toothy and teasing. "You fucking hypocrites."

Flash stuck his tongue out at her.

"I bet you broke it on purpose." Eddie shooed Andi out of his way and sank into the cushions with all the weight of someone who hadn't slept more than four hours over three days.

Jubulile stood near the door, not quite sure what to do. They all _knew_ each other. Had camaraderie. Sure, she knew Eddie, but she hadn't actually known him that long. Not years, not even months. Weeks, maybe. Even with Sleeper's memories drifting in and out of coherence... she felt a little like a stranger, suddenly, in a way she hadn't felt in a while.

Flash seemed to notice, and he nodded toward the couch. "You can sit down. Andi won't bite." He paused, in over-exaggerated thought. "Much."

"You shut up." Andi propped her feet up on Eddie's lap as she leaned back against the other arm of the couch, much to his chagrin. "I'm Andi. Thompson's my coach, or... something like that." She smiled much more kindly than before, hands crossed behind her head. "He's an idiot, so don’t listen to anything he says."

Jubulile left her suitcase beside the door and moved closer, to stand by the coffee table, between Flash and the couch. But... obviously, since Andi had reclaimed her territory, Jubulile couldn't exactly sit down. She glanced down at her socks.

Suddenly, Andi straightened up. "Shit, I'm sorry." She moved her legs, leaving space between her and Eddie and said, "I'm an asshole."

"No—" Jubulile put her hands up. "It's fine." She took the space, though, before anyone might change their mind. Nestled between Eddie's warm bulk on one side and Andi—much colder—on the other. Andi slung an arm around Jubulile's shoulders.

"It's not, but I appreciate your politeness." Again, that teasing look.

Jubulile looked away, feeling herself blush—caught Flash grinning in amusement, too. She pursed her lips. Everyone was _laughing_ at her.

Even Sleeper, tickling up her spine.

Well, everyone but Eddie.

He just looked kind of grumpy.

"Brock—" Flash moved toward a door nearby, presumably to a bedroom or something. He amended himself: "...Eddie. Can we talk?" He had his hand on the doorknob, but didn't actually open it yet, just watched expectantly, suddenly serious. Not quite frowning, though.

Eddie leaned forward, briefly rubbing his hands over his face. He took a deep breath, heaved a heavy sigh. "Yeah." A moment, and he hauled himself to his feet. "Yeah, I'm coming."

A silence fell across the apartment, as Eddie and Flash disappeared into the other room, voices muffled by the walls into a soft rise-and-fall of indistinct tones. Occasional bass rumble indecipherable between the clearer mid pitch snippets.

Andi let Jubulile put a little bit of space between them, reaching for the remote. "So... uh..." She didn't mute the TV, but turned the volume down so it mixed with the closed-door conversation in the other room. "Where you from? I've never heard an accent like that before."

"Oh—" Jubulile crossed her legs, leaning back into the cushions. "South Africa."

"Really?" Andi looked over at her with thinly veiled amazement. "That's so _far_. Why are you all the way in Philadelphia?"

Jubulile's stomach grumbled before she could answer.

Andi held up a finger. "Hold that thought." She hopped off the couch and headed toward the kitchen, saying, "Lemme make some snacks or something."

With a smile, Jubulile nodded. "Okay."

[ **I trust her.** ]

Jubulile laced her hands together in her lap, and Sleeper twined into the tiny, tight spaces between her fingers. She let her eyes close for a brief second, voice a whisper. "I do too."

[ **She smells nice.** ]

"Yes—" She ducked her head and hissed, " _No_. That's a weird thing to say about someone you've only just met!"

[ **Humans don't make any sense.** ]

She shook her head, with a little grumble, but... she couldn't exactly say Sleeper was wrong. Humans were strange. But that was kind of amazing, right? All the strange things any given person might do in any given day. Quirks and culture and society. Some of it was bad, true, but plenty was good. Like the way Jubulile's mother kissed her cheek exactly twice to say goodbye, or how Andi—right at that moment, in the kitchen—bobbed her head as she waited for the microwave.

It beeped, and at the same time either Flash or Eddie raised his voice—it sounded like Eddie. But then he got quiet again. Andi frowned, but she emerged from the kitchen with a bowl in each hand. "I dunno what you like but it's all I could find." She handed Jubulile a bowl of oatmeal, spoon already stuck into it, with a small, quick smile.

"Thank you." Jubulile smiled back, and Sleeper sent a warm thrum to her stomach.

This time, it was Flash's voice—not angry, but probably louder than intended.

Andi glared at the bedroom, setting her bowl down before stomping over to pound on the door.

"Don't start this shit!"

A muffled "Sorry" filtered out through the wood and almost immediately after, the door opened, knocking Andi off balance. She scowled at Eddie as he shouldered past her without a word. He headed straight for the bathroom, slamming the door behind him, and almost immediately the sound of running water poured out.

"What the _fuck_." Andi rounded on Flash, as he too came out into the open room.

He grimaced. Then sighed, and scrubbed both hands across his face and back through his short hair. "Give him some space."

She crossed her arms and said, "I plan on it."

"Hey, listen, just...  Cut him some slack, okay?"

"Why should I? I already gotta put up with _you_."

Flash rolled his eyes, obviously not particularly put off by her comment. He gestured her closer, to lean down toward him, and lowered his voice, making a point to meet her eyes as he asked, "You remember when your dad... you know." His expression took on a brief cloud of guilt. "How angry you were. And when Mania—" He cut himself off.

Wordlessly, Andi nodded. She kept eye contact, though, and something in her expression shifted.

Flash looked at her. Full of meaning, unspoken, like they could communicate without any kind of words, and maybe they could. His eyes flicked over to Jubulile, and she looked away, as if she hadn't been listening to their very audible conversation.

"I..." Flash sighed.

[ **No.** ]

The air tensed. Sleeper roiled under Jubulile's skin, in her lungs, up her throat, stinging the backs of her eyes. They pressed those thoughts outward, telepathic vocalizations that imbued the apartment with heavy silence and thick frustration.

[ **Stop acting as if my parent is dead. I won't let you.** ]

Jubulile pressed her hand to her chest, on the verge of... tears or vomiting or something, twisting up her insides as she tried to soothe Sleeper. She tucked her chin to her chest. "It's _okay_."

Softly, she could just hear Andi breathe out—"Who the fuck...?"

Flash's voice, then: "You wanna introduce yourself, stranger?" Faux-confident.

Jubulile raised her head to look at them, and as she did so, Sleeper slipped out from between her fingertips. She closed her eyes, a soft affirmation as they prodded uncertainty toward her, and then... They flowed across her skin, cool and slick like the rocky bed of a lake. All imbued with a kind of desperate aching. Jubulile knew that ache... it had been building up for the past four or five days, ever since Eddie broke the news to them, and now it had spilled over in a full tidal wave of forceful denial and grief.

"What's your name?"

" **I... We are Sleeper.** "

Jubulile felt something tug on her heart.

"Who's Sleeper?" That was Andi.

Sleeper-and-Jubulile looked down at the floorboards from where they sat on the couch, skin undulating like the reaching mantle of a jellyfish though the air was fairly still. They drew their legs up and wrapped their arms around them and would have rested their chin on their knees if they had one. Instead they set their gaze firmly on Andi. On her dark eyes and the miasma of confusion and... jealousy that surrounded her.

" **I am Eddie's child.** "

A blink of silence.

"O—oh." Flash tried to collect himself. "You did say 'parent'—Wow. Okay."

Andi nodded, eyebrows shooting up, suddenly calm. Just complete face-value acceptance, as if that explained away everything.

Which, maybe it did.

Then, she asked, "Why do you have eyeballs?"

Sleeper blinked. " **...what?** "

Within a breath, Flash and Andi had both moved closer, with great expressions of concentration. Flash squinted at them. "You're right. Are they real?"

" **Real?** " Sleeper closed their eyes—or perhaps a better word would have been "dematerialized"—and their shared mental impression of the room dimmed into a strange tableau of heat signatures and sound vibrations. But not visual in any way. All feeling and motion, tickling across the sensitive bio-polymer that made up their body. They opened their eyes and met Flash's stare. " **Yes.** "

He smiled at them.

They tilted their head.

Andi reached out, then pulled back her hand with some degree of hesitation. "Sorry, I shouldn't—"

Sleeper mirrored her gesture. They pushed their palm against hers, even let some of the structure melt away to fit between her fingers, as her eyes widened. She squeezed their hand, transfixed, until suddenly Flash cleared his throat. Gave her a pointed look.

"Wh—oh!" Andi pulled away, clasping her hands behind her back as her face went pink.

Sleeper's smooth face split into a smile, jagged teeth just like their parent's. Then gone in the same instant, back to sleek black and just those holes in their cheeks showing the red of their gums. They reached for Flash, to shake hands.

He obliged, with a quiet, "Nice to meet you."

Right on time, the bathroom door opened. Eddie looked no less tired, but at least moderately cleaner as he tugged on the hem of a borrowed shirt—too tight, especially around the shoulders and neck. He crossed his arms. He didn't seem surprised at all, to see his child out. "Hey, Flash, how do you feel about being a godfather?"

Flash blanched, hand still entangled in Sleeper's handshake as he twisted to shoot Eddie the most incredulous expression he could muster. "Are you kidding me right now?" He shook his head, and pulled away from Sleeper, turning his chair so he didn't have to contort his whole torso to see Eddie. "You were pissed at me five minutes ago, and now you want me to be the godfather to your kid who you didn't even _tell_ me about and who I only _just_ met?"

Eddie shrugged. "Your loss."

"Hey." Flash pointed at him. "I didn't say no."

Andi made a face, rolling her eyes and mouthing " _Men_ " at Sleeper before throwing herself onto the couch beside them.

With a ripple, they receded.

Jubulile rested her chin on her knees.

Andi spoke up, to interrupt Flash and Eddie's (mostly) friendly ribbing—

"Brock. I'm sorry about..." She gestured. "Just, sorry. It sucks. I know it sucks."

He nodded, swallowed—just for the barest of moments, Jubulile got a secondhand—or thirdhand, filtered through Sleeper's senses—wave of sorrow and anger before his jaw clenched and he turned away to ask Flash whether he had any eggs. Changing the subject, obviously. Transparently so.

Andi just shook her head, arm pressed up against Jubulile's, and let out a sigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the symbiote is NOT (brain or body)dead and eddie is still in a rough spot, mentally, but it turns out being around people he cares about kind of helps a tiny bit.
> 
>  
> 
> andi smells like a campfire probably lol
> 
>  
> 
> Eddie and Flash's mini-argument convo can be read here: [link](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16903290)


	9. An in-between sound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In-between spaces and in-between sounds and trying to converse with only one person despite the multiple people present.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contents:  
> dreams, insomnia, being underwater, more awkward conversations, brief mentions of medication, eavesdropping, dog symbiote, and overlapping conversations.

Jubulile couldn't sleep.

After a brief but heated argument about who would sleep where, Flash had conceded his bed to Jubulile and Andi—big enough to fit them both, easily—and had claimed the couch, banishing Eddie to an inflatable mattress they had dug from the closet, placed near the front door.

Unlike Eddie, Jubulile had turned down the offer of sleeping pills, but maybe she should have taken him up on it.

Andi lay sound asleep beside her, tangled up in the blankets so that Jubulile's shoulders were exposed to the cold air. Jubulile rolled onto her side, staring into the darkness. Sleeper curled around her, shifting and softening texture into a thick blanket, warm and heavy.

[ **I can make you sleep.** ]

She considered it, for a moment.

She wasn't sure. Her thoughts did not race, but they moved with a constancy, an enduring pace, lingering on her father for a few minutes—a year ago the memory might have brought tears to her eyes but now thinking of him mostly made her feel a fond sort of sadness. A missing. Beyond that, her mind had caught onto Eddie's shirt. Flash's shirt, rather.

It was much too small for him and yet he insisted on wearing it, even though up until then she had known him to wear the symbiote as clothing. It probably fit better, felt better.

But the longer she thought about it, the more it became clear to her. She wouldn't want to wear Sleeper like a shirt, if they were... like that. And she'd only known them for about a month, maybe a little less time than that, even. Eddie had been with his symbiote for... how long? Years? Before she ever met him, probably before she even knew how to sail. So... she understood. The discomfort of tight seams on shoulders paled compared to the weight of wearing a dead loved one like nothing more than a shirt.

[ **Not dead.** ]

"Shh..." She closed her eyes to the dark. "I know."

Sleeper buzzed at her, in the back of her brain. Not irritation, exactly. Frustration.

"I know..."

She wiped her eyes—not sure if it was because of Sleeper's poorly suppressed emotions, her own, or just tiredness. A car honked outside, once, a sharp sound that cut through the quiet night noises and made Andi stir. But when nothing followed, she stilled. Jubulile rolled onto her back with a sigh.

 _Alright_.

 _Make me sleep_.

Gently, Sleeper covered her more fully, and within a few moments she slipped out of consciousness.

Jubulile dreamed.

A coral reef... Red gorgonians swaying in shifting glassy waves, inky blue-black brittle stars amongst their bases or nearby. The water was shallow, and sunlight drifted through it in glittering rays. Jubulile sat with the corals, and jellyfish drifted around her.

One scarlet, with iridescently dark tentacles—something in the back of her brain wiggled around on seeing it. Like it shouldn't have been there, or it wasn't natural. It looked like a normal jellyfish, but more. Extruded.

It wasn't the only one.

Another mostly crimson, though inky lines like veins of dried blood edged along its underside, as it darted in and out of her vision. Irritable and slender, some kind of box jelly even though she knew, logically, no such cnidarian existed.

One sea nettle all dark—purple-black, green-black, its streaming stingers reminiscent of intestines or twisting muscle fibers. Green scintillated in disappearing patches across its top, and when Jubulile reached out to touch it a wave of surely unnatural bioluminescence rippled out from her fingertips.

The others sparkled too, but white.

It seemed wrong, if she thought too hard, but the logic of dreams pushed their light as completely natural, in spite of the sunlit waters and the seemingly random species—none of which, as far as she knew, normally glowed.

All the rest were moon jellies, plain and milky white, just floating.

And they were all so tiny, like coins.

Her brain told her they should have been huge—not the moon jellyfish, perhaps not the veined red one, but the other two. Again, that dream logic kicked in and said no, no, this is the size they must be. The color they must be. And if they brush your arm, it's fine—and it was true, they drifted close without causing pain or harm. Just the gentle touch across her shoulders and face.

She cupped them in her hands, all three together. They tangled but could do little to resist.

Toxin, Carnage, and Raze.

And there, the fourth, above her.

It floated on the surface of the water, a hanging curtain of black tendrils suddenly falling across her upturned face. She wrapped her hands in them, as they wrapped around her and the others, pulled her up. The sea's surface broke around her head and she gasped for air, eyes on the acid green man o' war and its gut full of black ink. Little red spots across its crest like carefully aligned glass beads or flying fish roe, one at a time.

She reached for Sleeper, almost as big as her own body, and the water came back up around them. It sent her vision all undulating turquoise and white.

The dream faded, and she fell into a stiller sleep.                      

***

Eddie and Flash had left to run errands, buy groceries, and presumably to talk through some stuff—which meant Jubulile and Sleeper and Andi had the apartment to themselves for the whole day. And so, they found themselves moving the coffee table out of the way, pillaging the place for blankets and cushions, pilfering the cupboards for anything good (very little, it turned out) and watching Christmas specials on TV.

"So you're..."

"Visiting for winter break, and then going down to my aunt's place next week."

Jubulile nodded, half bending-half snapping a stale cracker between her teeth as she watched stop-motion Santa move about. "What are you studying?"

At that, Andi shrugged, though it produced more of a vague nudge of the blankets, nestled as she was. "I still haven't really decided. There's just... so much they expect you to do, right?"

"Right." Jubulile set the crackers aside. "Decide your entire life, now."

"Exactly!" Hands thrown up into the air, chipped nail polish glinting in the light from the TV.

They sat quietly for a while, watching TV, either of them occasionally texting—Jubulile reassuring her mother that everything was going well, and promising to call her later in the night. Sleeper kept sending out tendrils to prod whatever they could reach. Mostly the remote control, turning the volume up and down, figuring out what each button did. They all jumped a little when the TV flicked off, but then Sleeper turned it back on with a mumbly non-vocal apology.

"I... uh..." Andi scratched her ankle with her foot, not quite looking in Jubulile and Sleeper's direction. Seemingly focused on the cartoon reindeer dancing across the screen. "I used to have a symbiote, too."

They looked at her, Sleeper half wrapped around Jubulile's neck and face, like a clingy cat or particularly affectionate facemask. They tilted her head together, as she said, "Really?"

Though, as she thought about it, it shouldn't have come as a surprise, right? It seemed that everyone Eddie Brock knew had been exposed to something symbiotic at some point. Herself included. She leaned forward to touch her toes, under her pile of blankets, and considered Andi. Her dyed hair and dark eyes and many piercings. "What was their name?"

"Mania." Andi smiled. "Well, I guess Mania was more of an 'us' thing, you know? Not quite..." She connected with Jubulile's gaze. "Not quite like Sleeper. Sleeper seems..."

[ **Special.** ] Sleeper hummed smugly.

Andi snorted. "Yeah, special." She paused a moment before continuing. "I don't think we were quite the same as Venom though. Like, Venom really is Eddie and his symbiote, you know? Sure, coach and a bunch of other people have called themselves Venom, like a brand... Recognition... But... They really are, I dunno... I'd feel weird calling his symbiote Venom on its own, even though it's not so weird to call Mania that, or Toxin, or whoever." She ran her hand through her undercut, and her bangs stuck up wildly for just a moment before settling back down.

Jubulile nodded. "I think I see what you mean."

Andi pulled the blankets closer around her head and shoulders.

After a moment, she murmured, "I miss us."

Jubulile wasn't sure what to say to that.

Luckily, she didn't have to say anything. The lock clunked and the front door swung open. "Heeeey!" Flash had a lapful of groceries, and Eddie carried plenty more—with a black dog on a leash. Flash shot a grin toward Andi and Jubulile. "You two wanna take a break from your pillow fort to help me put some shit away?" He rolled to the kitchen as Andi got to her feet, Eddie in his wake, and the dog wagging its tail.

Andi took a bag from Eddie, raising her eyebrows. "Dogbiote?"

His forehead creased up as he said, "Please don't call it that."

Jubulile moved straight for the dog, Sleeper narrowing her attention down on it. She reached out to stroke its head and it nudged her hand with a soft little woof. It butted its velvety head into her chest, and she smiled. "Hey, puppy." Sleeper covered her hand as she stroked it, and its tail went into overdrive as it licked and nuzzled their hand and forearm.

Sleeper emanated a deep, unplaceable emotion somewhere between relief and excitement.

Jubulile looked up at Eddie.   

She pursed her lips as she considered her words. "Baba doesn't seem to be dead."

Eddie frowned. "Baba?"

Jubulile shrugged, and continued to run Sleeper's hands across the dog's head and neck, scratching behind its ears until it practically fell into her lap. "Papa, Mama, Baba." She laughed quietly. "I think that might mean 'grandmother,' actually, but it was the first thing that came to me. B is an in-between sound."

[ **Baba...** ]

She kissed the top of the dog's head and stood up to face Eddie. She realized she didn't know what else to say, so she smiled at him before turning toward the kitchen to help Andi and Flash with the last of the groceries.

With the cramped size of the kitchen, however, Flash ended up leaving them in there with the final bag. Andi cursed, trying to shove a head of lettuce into the crisper drawer—it was much too big to fit, so she settled for leaving it on the bottom shelf as Jubulile giggled.

They could just hear Flash and Eddie speaking to each other, quietly. A glance told Jubulile that Eddie and his other-in-dog-form had settled on the couch again, the latter wrapped tightly in his arms as Flash stroked its ear. She turned her attention back to the food.

Ooh, peppermint ice cream.

("Hey, dude, listen.")

Flash spoke quietly, but it wasn't as if there were anything separating the kitchen from the living room. And Sleeper couldn't just ignore the conversation, with all their curiosity and the childlike sense of entitlement that accompanied the presence of their father.

("I don't know what—I could probably give you something of mine, but I don't... really feel comfortable—I mean, I can call in some favors if you want—")

("Get to the point, Thompson.")

Jubulile leaned close to Andi, raising the ice cream. "Where are the bowls?"

Andi found a couple of bowls—most of the cupboards were completely empty, except the ones below the countertop, packed with everything that would fit—and grabbed them some spoons while she was at it.

("How long have you been off your meds?")

Jubulile scooped some ice cream out—it was just a little melty from the car ride, but solid enough. She licked a bit from her finger, and handed the spoon off to Andi to get her own. She didn't know how much she wanted, anyway.

("I don't really want to talk about this in front of the girls, Flash. Or my _child_.")

It was suddenly very, very quiet, other than the voice of Burl Ives on the television.

With a sigh, Flash mumbled, "Just write down what you need and I'll try to pull some strings."

Sleeper withdrew the from the back of Jubulile's head into her skin. [ **We're not innocent little babies, incapable of understanding serious topics.** ]

Jubulile swatted her own shoulder, though she couldn't suppress her smile as she looked over at Flash and Eddie on the couch. The dog-symbiote had its head in Flash's lap, blissfully calm under his touch, tongue lolling and eyes shut.

Andi moved past her, pointing an accusatory spoon at the men. "Sleeper's right." She retook her place on the floor, among the sea of comforters and pillows, shoving a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth as she settled in. "We're all adults, here."

Flash sighed. " _Annoying_ adults."

Andi laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dream jellyfish:  
> toxin: lion's mane but Baby   
> carnage: box jelly   
> raze: sea nettle  
> sleeper: Portuguese man o' war
> 
> they're allllll small except sleeper. obviously not like... Realistic at all. :P


	10. Intermission: Do I look like I own a fucking tuxedo?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flash has an idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flash POV  
> Contents:  
> dog symbiote, sorting medication

"So, what's the plan?"

Eddie cut off his humming and looked up from where he sat on the couch, sorting multivitamins and antidepressants into one of Flash's old pill organizers, with the coffee table pulled up close against his knees as he slouched over it. He thought for a moment. "I don't know." The symbiote had its head in his lap, and he scratched behind its ear absently. "I didn't really think I'd get this far."

With a sigh, Flash joined him on the couch. "Well, I'm driving Andi back down to her aunt's place tomorrow morning."

"Sure." Eddie snapped each compartment shut, one by one, before saying, "I find that hard to believe."

Flash hummed, petting the symbiote's nose as he thought.

Eddie was right, of course. Stubborn as she was, Flash knew Andi wouldn't be willing to stay behind while everyone else plotted and planned to launch their... whatever it was they were going to do. What even _was_ their goal? Find a xenomedical doctor?

He sighed.

He had _one_ idea. Sort of.

"I haven't told anyone about this but... I've been tracking Lee Price, and..." He caught Eddie's eye. "I think I've found a way we can get Mania back."

Eddie stared at him.

Finally, he came unstuck with a blink and frowned deeply as he attempted to form words but mostly just managed: "Wh—yeah?"

"Yeah."

Eddie's fingers dug a little into the fur around the dog's neck.

"A local billionaire is throwing a—Well, a party."

Eddie turned his attention to the pill bottles on the table and started to line them up into a neat little row of four, and then the pill organizer in front of them like a little barrier. "What does a party have to do with Maniac?" He kept fiddling—turning each one so the labels faced the same direction.

"Well." Flash rolled his shoulders, trying to get out that stubborn tightness at the bottom of his neck. "Bunch of important people are supposed to be there—rich people eating gold leaf or whatever—and my sources tell me Lee Price has been staking the place out." He leaned his elbow against the arm of the couch with a quiet breath. "I'm not sure what exactly he's planning, but I doubt it's good."

Eddie rubbed his face. "We're going, right?"

Flash shot Eddie an incredulous look. "Do I look like I own a fucking tuxedo?"

Eddie _looked_ at him, and he withered under that gaze.

"Alright, fine. I'll tell Andi."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Lee Price mini-subplot thing is like, simultaneously minor _and_ significant... like... don't expect anything dastardly, he's literally only in one chapter... but at the same time it's weirdly crucial to the character development for the rest of the story??  
> Mostly I just wanted an excuse for them to go to a fancy party...lol
> 
>  
> 
> Also: This is what I came up with as far as medication, based on some cursory googling:  
> The 4 pill bottles are: 1) a very thorough multivitamin, 2) phenethylamine supplement pills, and a combo of 3) an SSRI with 4) a bupropion (Wellbutrin??) prescription–-  
> In my mind, Eddie had been taking this combo before, but does not have insurance for obvious reasons, and ran out and couldn't afford anymore so he just... stopped... leading into all that stuff preceding and during the beginning of this.  
> Anyway, thanks to Flash's probably illegal assistance he's still... not great but he'll be okay.
> 
> He has his entire prescription memorized down to the tiniest detail—obsessively aware of the things he puts into his body. So... you know, when Flash asked him to write down what he needed, he wrote down exactly what he needed to the exact specifications. I wasn't sure how to fit that in and it didn't really warrant its own scene.
> 
>  
> 
> Fun fact! I take around 50,000 IU of Vitamin D per week!   
> (Slightly less, because I can't swallow the 50k pills my doctor prescribed me, so I eat a bunch of gummy vitamins instead)


	11. Please, please, please

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes to a gala

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contents:  
> Violence!  
> Not super graphic, and fairly brief, but a little bloody....  
> also minor character death. nbd.
> 
> Parental stuff and homesickness, more grief, rich people, fancy food, dancing, flirting.
> 
>  
> 
>   
> [on twitter](https://twitter.com/nadiarwendt/status/1070457466373062656)

Jubulile smoothed down the front of her coat—acid green wool hanging to her knees, over the black silk of her dress. All Sleeper's doing, even the roses in her hair. She pushed the door to Flash's bedroom open, in the darkness of the empty apartment. "Eddie?" He was sat on the bed, all done up in his tux, with his hands on his lapels and his head down. "Andi and Flash are waiting in the car." She bit her lip.

He didn't look at her. Just said, "Gimme a minute." Not harshly. Quiet.

It reminded her of those early days after her father died. When some nights she would find her mother looking at a photo of him, with tears on her face and his name on her lips.

But this time they had a goal. Searching for some kind of solution. She didn't know what they could do, really. How tracking down this dangerous man might help them...

But she knew it would make Andi happy if they succeeded. And they had only known each other for a week or so at this point but Jubulile liked Andi's sharp smile, and she didn't like how quiet she got when she spoke of Mania's absence.

Sleeper wrapped themself around her arms with a sighing thrum, draping a long green coat around her shoulders. She popped the collar around their black scarf and stepped back from the doorway.

[ **Father.** ]

He took a breath, heavy and shuddering. "I know." He pushed himself to his feet, as blackness threaded a coat across his broad shoulders, and he looked at them—his expression softened into a tender smile. "You look beautiful."

Jubulile ducked her head, as Sleeper purred under her skin.

It was... strange to face that kind of paternal affection again, after so many years. She had her mother, though, and in some ways it reminded her of that too. Though her mother would have taken her face in her hands and kissed her forehead—

Jubulile tried to keep her composure, but she couldn't help the burning in her eyes. She sniffled.

Eddie took her by the shoulder, concern rippling from him through Sleeper's senses. He didn't need to ask out loud. They could feel his question wordlessly. But he still asked, "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry," She rubbed at her eyes with a shaky breath. "I'm just a little homesick, I think."

"No need to apologize." His arms wrapped around her, warm and solid, and she leaned into him, grateful for the comfort. Sleeper emanated a soothing wash of chemicals through her body as well. Calmed her.

***

They arrived to the gala looking their best.

Jubulile draped in silk and red glass beads, embroidery, arm in arm with Andi, who'd managed to find herself a vest and slacks. Formal, but still herself. The vest was velvet and it felt nice when Jubulile's hand brushed it, briefly. They walked ahead of Eddie and Flash, up the gravel path to the front door. It was cold and Jubulile had never seen so many fur coats in her life. Sleeper adjusted themself across her waist, fixing a twist in the fabric of her gown—in themself, technically.

[ **All these smells...** ]

Perfume and cologne and aftershave, an underlying aura of lust and desire, as well as anxiety and fear. People looking to impress, to wow, to flatter, to be left alone in the crowd.

Jubulile glanced over her shoulder.

Eddie looked about as uncomfortable as she felt, as she tightened her hand on Andi's arm. But they locked eyes and he nodded.

Flash, on the other hand, exuded false confidence in his blue tuxedo, with his hair pushed back from his forehead.

Andi sidestepped an already-drunk partygoer as they walked through the double doors. Jubulile had no idea how she managed to balance on the thick foam of her soles, but she swept Jubulile through the spaces of the crowd like a dancer—and then they actually _were_ dancing. Sleeper dissolved the coat from Jubulile's shoulders as she draped her arms around Andi's neck.

She had a vague idea what Lee Price looked like. She'd seen a photo. A young man, judging from the blurry security footage and the four year old mugshot. Long hair, stern eyes. She didn't see him. Mostly a lot of forty-somethings, old white men and their twenty-year old trophy wives groomed into gold satin and red-soled pumps.

Sleeper tittered.

Jubulile glanced down—they had turned the soles of her dress-sandals a bright scarlet.

"I never thought I'd wear fake Louboutins."

Andi laughed. "No fair." Her eyes twinkled as she twirled Jubulile in a circle.

Oh dear.

She couldn't tell if the flutter in her stomach was Sleeper's doing or simply butterflies.

"Where did you learn to dance?"

Andi dipped her—all flair and flourish! She smirked and said, "Freshman elective"

And then she pulled Jubulile back up. For a second their faces were very close, and Jubulile could feel warmth spread across her face and neck as she blushed. She turned her head with a small smile. Sleeper drew her attention across the room, to an isolated corner.

Eddie sat on a cushioned bench in said corner, brooding into a crystal glass of mineral water (with a few slices of lemon) while Flash stuffed his face full of appetizers nearby. Truly playing the role of chaperone to their best abilities.

Jubulile looked around at the other guests, Sleeper pointing out interesting characters here and there—a woman who seemed to be wearing a gown made entirely of fur, a man in an honest-to-God top hat, someone who looked suspiciously like Tony Stark, a couple in matching butterfly tuxedos... So many of them clearly wealthy and comfortable with all this glitzy décor and glamorous fashion.

The table of food and drinks called to her.

There was, of course, plenty of champagne, mulled cider, mineral water, but also some kind of fruit punch—"fresh squeezed artisanal blood orange punch" according to another of the guests—that seemed interesting. Full of ice and cranberries and spirals of orange slices.

"Come on." She tugged Andi over to the table, hand-in-hand.

There was so much food—oysters, caviar, foie gras, brie, many little appetizers and fancy little pieces of toasted bread spread with pesto or chopped red olives... Sleeper wanted five eclairs and as many quail eggs as they could get their tentacles on but Jubulile convinced them to settle for two of each as well as a savory winter vegetable tartlet of some sort. Like a miniature quiche. Plus a glass of that fruit punch... and maybe some truffles too...

Andi clearly took after Flash in her elegance, because within about a minute she had stacked a plate with as much food as she could get her hands on, all with a piece of bread stuffed into her mouth.

Not that Jubulile had done much better, now that she looked at her own plate.

When would they ever get a chance like this again, though?

She changed her mind about the eclairs and grabbed another three just for good measure (much to Sleeper's delight).

"I wonder—" Andi made a face and finished what she had been eating before continuing. "I wonder when he's gonna show up."

Jubulile drank some of her fruit punch. "I don't know..." It was a little bitter, but... overall good.

Something must have snagged—the hem of her dress or something—because one second she was standing upright and the next she'd tripped, nearly dropping her food if not for Sleeper's instant reflexes. Black tendrils sprouted from her gown, loose snacks caught neatly, with one jutted out toward the ground to keep Jubulile from toppling over. Like a tripod.

She looked up at the people around her... All of them staring.

 _Sleeper_.

They all fainted.

[ **It's fine.** ]

Jubulile's eyes widened, as more people turned to see what all the commotion was, but their possible stares slid right around the space she occupied, as if she were completely invisible. She let out a deep breath and righted herself, fixing her plate and turning to Andi.

"Real smooth, you two." Andi smirked into her glass of cider.

Jubulile felt her face heat up. "It..." She didn't really know of an acceptable comeback. "The floor was slippery."

Andi laughed and it lit up her whole face.

[ **You're swooning.** ]

 _Shhhh_.

She looked around—found Eddie and Flash again, both staring over at her with some mix of concern, readiness, amusement, and admonition between the two of them. She gave them her most awkward grin-meets-grimace and shrugged.

Flash seemed to laugh, at that, and waved her off. A non-vocal "You're good."

Even Eddie almost smiled, deflating as it became clear the plan was not yet in action.

She returned to scanning the crowd as she ate.

Nearly done with their food, just about to rejoin Andi in another dance, Sleeper shivered down the sides of her neck and the back of her shoulders, a shimmer of recognition and distaste... But where...

There. Sleeper turned her head and she saw him. A dark-haired man in a long evening coat—

"Andi." Jubulile tugged Andi around, nodding toward Lee Price.

Andi stiffened, but she kept her cool. One hand on Jubulile's shoulder blade, the other wrapped loosely around her fingers. They spun.

[ **Keep calm.** ]

A wave of calm seeped down Jubulile's spine, and she could tell by the way Andi's posture relaxed that Sleeper had pushed the feeling outward as well. The three of them kept their eyes on Price—she could tell, because she could feel Sleeper staring out at the world with every single tiny red bead on her dress, with the red roses in her hair. Each bit of glass, each thread an eye, offering a nearly 360 degree view of their surroundings. She couldn't focus on it too long without getting dizzy, and Sleeper cut her off from most of it. But she could still tell.

"What do we do?"

Jubulile squeezed Andi's hand.

Sleeper bloomed across her skin with deep-threaded anticipation.

" **Follow the plan.** "

In a spreading wave of concentric circles, like ripples in a pond, the party-goers began to drop one-by-one into unconsciousness. Silk and velvet and lace splayed across the floor in a luxuriant carpet, coiffed hair falling across faces. They had to be careful, though. Andi for example—they covered her face with a thin sheen of themselves, filtering out their own pheromones. Across the room, a similar thing had happened to Eddie, his tuxedo jacket moving up to cover his face like a gas mask.

Flash slumped sideways in his wheelchair and Eddie caught him by the shoulders.

Only one other person remained upright.

Lee Price, symbiotic grin spread across his face.

Lee raised his arms—not technically in threat, but threatening nonetheless. He took a step forward. "How inconvenient."

Everything seemed to happen all at once, then.

Price-as-Maniac lunged forward. Sleeper-and-Jubulile lashed out. Andi burst into flame—and Eddie stayed back, with an unconscious Flash to deal with.

Chaperones. Backup. Unarmed.

Andi grabbed Lee by the throat with her arm wreathed in ethereal fire, a halo spreading around her head and down her arms, and at the same time Sleeper wrapped tendrils around his head.

Maniac threw Andi and Sleeper aside with no fear in their masked face, stoic and in control. Slamming them into the ground with black tendrils binding them.

" **I _FEEL_ you!**"

Price-or-Mania-or-both melted the distance between himself and Eddie Brock—" **I _SEE_ you!**" Eddie left Flash's side, met Lee halfway, in an open space of marble flooring, face twisting in anger as Price bellowed, " **A flimsy little suit! I can do so much _MORE_ with you!**" Price's hand shot out and he grabbed Eddie by the face—all this, and still pinning Sleeper and Andi to the floor with semi-solid blackness—

The two men grappled, as Andi let out what could only be described as a roar of righteous fury—

Eddie fell to the ground, and Lee Price—with Mania written across his face—whipped around to take the brunt of Andi's pillar of flame directly to his chest.

Sleeper tackled him, freed from his grasp as he shrieked.

The shriek turned to laughter, singed a little, smoking a little. Mania writhed around him even as Sleeper wrapped themself around his body, mouth splitting into fangs at his ear with a growl.

"I'm sorry!" Andi's voice, hot like embers. She poured forth Hellfire and wrath, barely missing the indisposed partygoers at her feet.

Mania put out streamers and vines and thorns and jagged lures even as Lee Price held on tight.

"Come home!" Andi's  voice cracked.

Fire burned around them, but...

Sleeper grabbed, and they pulled.

The noise that came from Price's throat was both man and symbiote, flanged and infinite, until the pull turned to ripping and Sleeper flung Mania from his body with a heave and before he could do anything else they covered his face with their own black flesh, caustic sapping drip and long teeth, a headlock of the ages as snakes and ropes lifted from Jubulile's skin under the dissipating heat.

 _No_.

**[ _Yes._ ]**

"Sweetheart, please—"

They let go in an instant, rolling to their feet.

Smoke rose from their body.

" **Father.** "

He knelt on the floor. More than knelt. Hunched on his hands and knees, looking up at them as they stood. He shook, half Venom, half Eddie Brock, with teeth across his skin and white dripping down black as the two cried together. His eyes bloodshot.

This was more than just a desire to keep his child from doing bad. More than the expected reaction. Lee Price had _done_ something to them, whether he intended it or not. Sleeper could feel as much. Terror oozed from Eddie's pores. Sweat and trauma and panic, heartrate dangerously high, pupils so large his eyes looked black, bio-polymer flesh-on-skin darting with anxious spikes and teeth drawing his own blood from his brow, though each prick healed as quickly as it formed. As he sank with his face to the floor in hyperventilation, shielding his eyes from the light. "Please..."

" **Father...?** "

"Kill him." His voice broke.

Jubulile's heart skipped a beat as she and Sleeper ran a split-second relay—no time to make the judgment call anyway as they sensed Price, half-charred, move. They spun and Sleeper's red eyes met with Mania's as Lee leapt to his feet as if to tackle them, and then—

He made a terrible, awful noise, impaled on the lance-arms of two symbiotic daughters, one glowing with deep heat through his heart and the other half wrapped around and through his face.

The only sound then was the soft wheezing of their father crumpled on the floor, struggling to catch his breath.

Sleeper sank into Jubulile's bones, the both of them astonishingly calm. But still, not entirely so. She clutched her heart, turning her eyes away from the deep red of blood wicking into the singed skirts of unconscious attendees. Shining under the light of the massive crystal chandeliers.

Andi stood hugging herself, whispering soft soothing nothing-phrases to the slick blackness coating her forearms and hands. Also tearful, but desperate not to show any sign of weakness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> told u he'd only be in one chapter
> 
>  
> 
> The more I think about this, the more I'm really not sure how Eddie might actually feel at a fancy party. On the one hand his father was pretty fucking wealthy, to have a 5 story house with an elevator in it, plus servants, but on the other hand it's been a long time since then and Eddie has been homeless multiple times and currently lives in conditions you might call squalid so like....???  
> Which way does it go?  
> He probably just hates parties anyway, though... so I stand by my decision of "uncomfortable."
> 
>  
> 
> andi's aunt is definitely not happy about her ditching them for christmas but ....... mania is more important


	12. A close fit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were going to have to talk about what had happened, but it could wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ACCIDENTALLY SKIPPED THIS CHAPTER  
> but here it is 
> 
> Contents:  
> memories and eddie being in a bad way, plus snuggling... and jubulile talking to her mom on the phone

They had to carry Eddie to the car—he couldn't walk straight, couldn't balance, as his symbiote moved across his skin in fitful bursts, shifting back and forth. Tuxedo jacket, t-shirt, leather, armor, spikes and softness in equal amount, morphing his hands to claws back to hands, his teeth to fangs. His eyes never quite focused on any one of them, though he seemed at least partially able to see, wincing at each sweep of a streetlight through the car window, with his head in Jubulile's lap.

After a few passes of that, he squeezed his eyes shut entirely, shivering.

The energy in the car was tense.

Eddie's forehead felt hot under Jubulile's hand, though Sleeper crept out to encase her fingers and cool his face. He kept muttering, still full of fear. They couldn't be sure he even knew where he was as he breathed half worded nonsense. As he shivered back and forth between himself and Venom.

"Can you do something to help?" Jubulile pressed her hand to her chest, pushing through Sleeper's concern. Through her own.

[ **...Yes.** ]

Almost as soon as the thought processed, Eddie's entire body went limp and his face smoothed. Even the workings of the symbiote became less frantic, though it still rippled with what she could only assume must have been distress.

_Can you tell what's wrong with them? Bond with them to feel it?_

Without answering, Sleeper dripped down her arm and across Eddie's face, under his eyelids and into his mouth and nose and ears—and then bristled back out almost in the same second they entered his thoughts, like iron filings under a magnet, and Jubulile found her mind's eye blasted with dozens upon dozens of memories.

The breaking of a boy's arm in her hands, the taste of blood on her tongue, the smell of smoke and the licking agony of an inferno, a laboratory full of grinning strangers, the sting of a flame pentagram and the whispers of demons, panic and despair, Lee Price's face snarling at her with his hand around her throat—the cold brick walls of an alleyway, Flash's hands armored in white as he leaned toward the symbiote, torture and extraction, pale arms holding a dying father close, Eddie's hand pressed up against a cool glass tank and tendrils reaching out unable to touch from the inside—a jumble of non-chronological memories from Eddie, from the symbiote, and... from _Flash_ , all blurring together into a cacophony of noise and color and anger and hunger and pain and _terror_ —

Jubulile gasped as Sleeper recoiled and took refuge in her ribcage.

Flash looked at her in the rearview mirror but said nothing.

When they reached Flash's apartment, Sleeper carried their father around their shoulders like a fireman. Big as he was, it seemed the most practical method. They focused only on getting Eddie to Flash's bedroom, where they laid him down on the mattress as gently as possible. His eyes flickered behind his eyelids, as if he were dreaming. Which... he probably was.

But it seemed like a more natural dreaming, now... Maybe? The symbiote had settled down into a skin-tight layer over his body, unmarked and jet black, almost like some kind of jumpsuit but clearly not cloth of any kind.

They all crowded around the bed, looking down at him. His breathing sounded normal, and eventually even his rapid-eye movement stilled.

After minutes became hours and they had all dispersed, moving in shifts to check in on him as he alternated through fitful sleep phases and dreaming, he opened his eyes and gasped a ragged breath.

The first thing he did was to pull Sleeper down into his arms and hold on tight.

"I'm so sorry."

A small moment of silence passed.

The distant sound of someone's car alarm echoed from outside, and a door slammed down the hall.

The refrigerator hummed in the kitchen.

Flash and Andi's voices blended with it all, from the living room.

Sleeper finally peeled back from her face, now that their parents seemed to be less... spiky. They nuzzled up against her chin, though, a small black blob vibrating with some mixture of relief and guilt. She could feel them pulling up memories of their first meeting, back in that space between buildings. When she told Sleeper, _"Next time, please talk to me."_ They hadn't had the chance, this time. She understood that. Still, Sleeper clung to her as if she might tell them to leave, curling around the back of her neck and across her shoulders.

Her knees still felt a little liquid, after their night, but she placed her hand against their small mass in reassurance.

Not that they wouldn't have a talk about this.

Because they were going to.

But it could wait.

For now they stayed wrapped up with Eddie, listening to his unsteady breathing, dripping out soothing pheromones at regular intervals to keep both him and Sleeper's other parent calm until Eddie fell back asleep on his own.

***

Jubulile called her mother around midnight—it must have been 7 am at home, and Amahle answered without too much of a wait. She cooed Jubulile's name, and the smile showed in her voice. Jubulile curled up on the couch between Andi and Flash, both of whom had fallen asleep watching TV. "How is your morning, mama?"

"Oh, almost perfect." Amahle laughed. "Except I seem to be missing something very important."

With a frown, Jubulile tilted her head. "Hm? What is it?"

"Why, _you_." Another laugh. "Silly girl."

Jubulile felt her face break into a grin, as she ducked her head. "Oh, how could I not realize?" Andi stirred beside her, and she quieted herself as much as she could while still being audible. "What will you do without my world-famous fried egg?"

"Oh, I'll simply have to suffer."

They went on like this for what must have been an hour, until Andi actually _did_ wake up, all bleary in the television-lit darkness. Jubulile placed a hand on her arm as she said, "Okay, mama, I have to go to bed but I love you."

"I love you too, you sweet girl." Amahle made two kissing noises. "Goodbye."

"Bye-bye." Jubulile hung up and got off of the couch. Sleeper wrapped around her, forming warm black pajamas, though she could easily have put on real sleeping clothes. But there was something nice about it. Like a full-body embrace. She brushed her teeth, leaving the bathroom light on for Andi to do the same, and settled on the inflatable mattress.

Eddie stayed in Flash's bed for the night, no one entirely willing to move him.

Flash, as he had for the past several weeks, took the couch.

The room plunged into darkness when Andi turned off the bathroom light, and then the TV, but they didn't need to see anyway. The mattress moved under her weight, and would have bounced Jubulile right off if she had sat any heavier. Jubulile managed to stay on, though.

They lay beside each other a little quietly, a little shyly. The air mattress was smaller than Flash's bed, so they fit more closely together.

After a moment, Andi's arms snaked around Jubulile's waist, accompanied by a cool tendril—Mania. Jubulile let herself be held by the both of them, and as she relaxed, Sleeper reached back to embrace Andi for her as well.

Andi shook a little, but slowly began to relax, drifting off just before Jubulile.

Jubulile smiled.


	13. Intermission: Thought I was safe with you but I was wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Childish behavior can morph into threatening behavior in an instant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ................merry christmas? 😅  
> sorry if the formatting is a little funky in places.
> 
>  
> 
> **contents:  
> **  
>  avoidance (of people and feelings), implied mention of suicide, as well as arguing, shouting, and all that accompanies such things. very brief mention/implication of past abuse.  
> 

Flash entered the room and Eddie found a way to leave it—as if Flash's apartment even had that many rooms in the first place. Flash came out of the bathroom the first day after Christmas and Eddie straight up left the apartment to sit in the hallway with the symbiote just, half formed around him. He wouldn't come back inside until Jubulile and Andi convinced him to hide in the bedroom instead, where they'd be safe from prying eyes.

It went on like that for _two days_.

At least now he stayed in the same room.

But Flash would ask him a question and he wouldn't answer. Every time Flash spoke his words fell flat to the ground, only for Eddie to respond instantly if Jubulile or Andi or Mania or Sleeper asked him the _same exact thing_ —a grown man giving him the petulant cold shoulder like they'd had some kind of spat on the playground after school.

Even though Flash hadn’t _done_ anything. At least as far as he knew.

Everything he did, he did to avoid Flash. At least a foot away from him at all times; no physical contact, no eye contact.

The third day, it got to be too much, so while the girls were out walking, Flash cornered Eddie in the kitchen, blocking off the entrance with his wheelchair.

"Why are you ignoring me?"

Eddie's face darkened as he stood in front of the stove, over a saucepan of water steaming on the burner.

He didn't answer.

Of course.

"I don't know what the hell you think I did, but I'd appreciate it if you maybe _told_ me instead of acting like a five year old."

Silence.

"Seriously, dude—"

"Stop." Eddie closed his eyes for a moment. "Just stop."

Flash stopped.

The only sound for a good minute was that of the burner creaking.

Finally, Eddie spoke. "I want to like you, Flash." He met Flash's eyes, his own pupils glinting turquoise-green in the shadows, like a cat's, as the symbiote spread in agitation across the back of his neck. "I _do_ like you." He looked away. Turned the heat down just barely as the water came to a boil, popping open a packet of instant ramen and sticking the brick of curled up noodles into the sauce pan with a small wince against the steam. "I have nightmares about burning alive. You're not the first or last person to set me on fire, but sometimes, in my dreams, you're the one holding the match."

"I—"

Eddie cut him off. "You're a good man, but I can't shake these memories out of my head, and seeing them from both sides isn't helping. Seeing your face isn't _helping_."

Flash frowned. "I don't..."

"Flash, please, I can't—"

Eddie took a deep breath through his nose, letting his eyes close for a moment. He looked down at his hands. Met Flash's eyes again. "Do you know the feeling when you're sick, and things you could do any other day suddenly seem impossible?"

Of all the people Eddie could have asked that question.

Flash nodded.

Eddie shifted the saucepan over the burner, a pointless fidgeting, sliding motion. "Seeing Lee Price again knocked all these memories loose that I'd never even felt before. Memories I'd blocked out from my _own_ life. Memories from Agent Venom, from _you_. Mania got in there too, somehow. I've got memories from my other that I didn't even know _existed_ —" Eddie leaned hard against the oven as he spoke, stiff all over, face creased with hard lines. "All those memories all at once and I felt every emotion my other associated with each one—can you _imagine_ that? Going from dead silence to experiencing everything simultaneously?"

Flash shook his head, mouth dry.

"I wanted to feel my other again, but I didn't think it would be like _that_. It's quiet again, a half-filled hole in my head, but it's _there,_ and it _hurts_ , and I'm so relieved I could die."

Flash twisted his mouth. "Are you—"

"No." Eddie shook his head. "There's something there again. It's small but I'm not going to give that up."

He stared down at the stove. "Anyway, I have people I care about."

Flash shifted in his chair. "It's a two-way street."

Eddie nearly smiled at that, though it ended up more of a crooked smirk. "Well aren't you insightful."

"Hey, fuck off."

Eddie looked at him sidelong. "If that's your way of telling me you care, it's pretty terrible."

"I—I care about the symbiote." Flash set his jaw. " _Our_ symbiote."

Anger flashed across Eddie's face. " _Our_? Our symbiote?" He turned away and grabbed a bag on the counter he must have set aside earlier—broccoli. Snapped a head off. He tore the broccoli into smaller pieces and dropped each one into the half-boiling water. The symbiote smoothed itself into long sleeves. "Is that why you abandoned it?"

That caught Flash off-guard. " _Excuse_ me?"

"Price should never have found it!" Snapped out and tight.

Flash stared at him. "That's not—I didn't—"

Eddie dropped his voice. "Then where were you?"

" _Fuck_ you!" For real, this time.

"No, fuck you!" Eddie's voice rose, booming in that small room, under the off-white fluorescent lights. "Don't act like such a goddamn martyr—Why was our other _alone_?! You should have _BEEN_ there!" He glowered down at the stove, trying and failing to contain himself, as small whips of symbiotic mass flailed around his arms and shoulders. Trying to calm him.

"It's not like I didn't _look_!" Flash shoved his hands back through his hair with an exasperated noise in the back of his throat. "Why are you blaming _me_ for this?! What about _YOU_?!" Too loud, and he couldn't keep his voice from rising in pitch out of sheer frustration.

"I didn't _KNOW_!" Louder still, and the way Eddie slammed his hand on the counter made Flash tense up. "You should've _KNOWN_!" Again. "I'm NOTHING. You—you of all people should have kept him SAFE! I THOUGHT HE WAS _WITH_ YOU AND HE WASN'T—"

"SHUT UP!"

Immediate, ringing silence.

Flash gripped the rims of his wheels so tight it hurt, burning through the joints of his knuckles. Jaw clenched so hard he thought his teeth might crack. Taut like a wire, and he could feel his face contorted into a glare, breathing sharp through flared nostrils in an effort to contain himself. When he released his hold, his hands shook and his lungs burned.

He fought to bring his breathing under control but it was hard and Eddie was staring at him with this look in his eyes, regret mixed in with residual anger and his own fear, or the symbiote's, or _something_. Flash had to look down at his lap. Still, he couldn't help thinking that Eddie was—not that Eddie was right but that Flash was wrong. That he should have been searching for the symbiote that whole time and he _hadn't_ been.

If he had looked for it, none of this would have happened. Right? That was what Eddie had been telling him.

It was his fault.

He felt hot all over, in his eyes and his throat and under his arms and down his back.

"Just shut up." Very quiet.

Eddie moved and Flash flinched.  Involuntary instinct beaten into him, with a much sharper inhale than he wanted.

Eddie took a step back, visible in Flash's peripheral vision even with his eyes still turned downward. The symbiote had wrapped itself tightly around his wrists and hands, maybe to reassure Flash or maybe to restrain Eddie.

Flash backed himself out of the kitchen.

"Flash, wait—"

He stopped in the middle of the living room, waiting for whatever he had coming.

"I didn't mean—"

Awkward pause.

"I'm sorry."

He hadn't expected that.

Felt bad about it, almost. All this stupidity... it made him want to cry, and the apology made that _worse_. But he wasn't supposed to let himself cry, especially not in front of other people. And _he_ should've been the one apologizing, anyway—or maybe they both needed to apologize to _each other_ , and probably have a long, uncomfortable conversation. Not today, though. Not with his chest so tight.

He muttered, "Your noodles are boiling over" and turned away.

Eddie cursed under his breath and moved to turn off the burner, as Flash wheeled himself over to his bedroom.

He didn't bother to turn the lights on, just shut the door behind him quietly and made his way over to his bed.

He just needed to be alone for a little while.

Lay down for a little while, until his eyes stopped stinging.

Just needed to calm down and wait for his heart to stop pounding so hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath of their argument is here: [link](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17066075)
> 
>  
> 
> I basically completely rewrote this intermission from what I had before and like, doubled the length? I like this version much better though.
> 
> Honestly, the title explains Flash's reaction pretty well.  
> Flash got used to having Eddie around in a nonviolent, domestic setting, then got abruptly reminded that Eddie is a dangerous man who could hurt him very easily if he wanted to.  
> Rude awakening.  
> That on top of, obviously, trauma from his upbringing, plus Flash himself losing his temper right back at Eddie. All of it has him very tense.
> 
>  
> 
> (eddie was NOT going to hit flash, fyi, he was gonna touch his shoulder. but flash doesn't know that.)
> 
>  
> 
> I maybe should have waited until after christmas to post this, tbh, since it can be a rough time for some and this is not exactly a fun or happy chapter in any way.  
> I hope anyone reading this has a good day, though, or at least a manageable one <3


	14. Polka dots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something a little lighter, and a bit of a change in gears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are all doing well.  
> And if not, I hope you feel better soon.
> 
> Contents:  
> Familial bonding, medical stuff/blood drawing, more dogbiote,

Alchemax HQ loomed into the sky.

Sleeper hummed on seeing it, infusing Jubulile with that strange feeling she'd slowly gotten used to over the past month or so—familiarity for a place she'd never even been. Snow drifted lightly around it, backlit by streetlights as the sky darkened, and floating into little twists from wayward drafts around the building's edges. Eddie was already at the door, and she hurried after him, Sleeper forming a puffy black coat around her shoulders.

The lobby glowed with dim nighttime lights, runners across the seams of the walls.

The entrance was still unlocked, though, and Eddie pushed through with a purpose in his stride.

"Sir? We don't allow dogs—" The security guard at the front desk looked up as he spoke, and his face steeled—a cold mask of detachment. "Mr. Brock, you need to leave."

Eddie stopped with his hands on the edge of the desk and stared the man down, with the symbiote pressed up against the side of his leg. "I need to speak with Liz Allan."

"How many times do I have to tell you, you've been banned. You can't keep coming in here demanding to be seen for every godforsaken whim—" The security guard's mouth tightened into a hard line as he sighed.

"No one followed us this time." The symbiote whuffed softly, as if to confirm.

The guard let his face fall into his hands. "That's not the point, Brock!"

Eddie looked upward, containing himself, composing himself. "Listen—"

"Eddie." Jubulile stepped forward, pushing a hand very lightly against his shoulder. He stepped back without the slightest resistance, and the dog moved with him, ears perked. He looked down at her, and the symbiote looked up at her. She took her hands back. They held eye contact for a few moments, until he breathed out and turned away first, raising his hands in surrender, palms out, one wrapped around with the symbiote's leash. He walked back to the lobby entrance.

Outside, they stopped on the snow-dusted sidewalk—or, Eddie stopped her, with a hand on her shoulder, just as gentle as her earlier touch, mirrored.

She frowned and tilted her head.

A silent second stretched out, and their breath clouded around their faces.

Eddie put his hands in the pockets of his jacket. His other-in-dog-form whined.

"I... wanted to apologize." He couldn't quite bring himself to look at her face, it seemed. "To both of you. To everyone, really, but especially to you two."

Jubulile wasn't entirely sure what to say. "Why?"

"I..." He sighed. "I've been so wrapped up in myself I haven't once thought of... of anyone else. You—it's been weeks and I only just realized your hair is different from the last time I saw you. Of course it is, it's been four years, but I didn't even—All this time you've been helping everyone else, you've been so sweet and patient, and I never once thought to ask what _you_ want." He glared down at his feet. "I'm an asshole."

She half-smiled. " **Yes, a little.** " That was both of them, Jubulile and Sleeper, even though the latter didn't show themself.

He finally looked up at her. "I want to be a better role model, for you. I want to be... a better father to Sleeper." He took a deep breath. "I want to think about fatherhood with pride... not regret that I couldn't live up to my role."

Sleeper emerged, then, smoothing down across her limbs and wrapping her up in the cool osmotic pulse of their shared mind and body. The two of them stepped forward, and wrapped their arms around Eddie—He pulled his hands from his pockets and returned the embrace just as firmly, maybe more. Their other parent pushed between their legs, whining to join them—flowing up Eddie's body.

It must have been an odd sight...

The broad silhouette of Venom, curled tightly around their symbiotic child in the middle of the falling snow.

It made droplets of clear red ooze down from Sleeper's eyes, down their cheeks in pseudo-tears. Jubulile and Sleeper both, together, had so many people who loved them and who they loved and it overwhelmed them just for this moment. They buried their face in Venom's broad chest and said only, " **I wan** t **t** o **se** e t **h** e ocean again" as Sleeper disappeared back into Jubulile's skin, back into that puffy black coat. Venom followed suit, wrapping a scarf around Eddie's neck.

Jubulile sniffled.

"Eddie?!"

They looked to the doors of Alchemax.

"Eddie!"

***

Jubulile leaned closer to inspect a small, empty vial sat on a rack on one of the counters in Dr. Steven's lab. It was all very neat, filled with ticking machinery and equipment placed just-so, but still felt homey and lived-in. She reached a hand out, and a small tendril curled around her finger—

"Please don't touch that."

They straightened up, clasping their hands behind their back. "Sorry." Sleeper rested a small, blunt head on her shoulder, big eyes and innocence painted across their face as they exuded chemicals into the air.

Dr. Steven shook his head, turning to face Eddie as he spoke—"As I'm sure you're _well_ aware, it's been a while." His motorized wheelchair hummed as he moved toward the examination table Eddie had settled onto—with the symbiote in his lap, tail thwapping against his thigh as it watched Steven curiously. "You claim it was braindead?"

"Until Christmas."

Jubulile sat on a stool nearby, as Sleeper came out to cover her face. They watched the conversation intently.

"Okay, well, I don't mean to be... rude... but you do realize that 'braindead' doesn't usually mean 'moving around,' right? And it sounds like it was moving around long before Christmas."

Eddie sighed. "Listen, I'm not—I know. I can feel it, kind of." He ran his hands across the dog's shoulders, soothing them both. "I'm just telling you what he told me."

With a nod, Dr. Steven pulled a pair of nitrile gloves on, artificial purple, and reached out to place his hands on the symbiote's muzzle. He coaxed its mouth open with a quiet "Hello, Venom." and took a moment to inspect its teeth and tongue. Sleeper watched with great fascination as he swabbed their parent's mouth. He worked with a very measured, precise confidence, unshaken by the long fangs or the greenish drool dripping onto the exam table and Eddie's legs. His voice was steady, and gentle. "How do you feel about a little brain scan, hm?"

The symbiote closed its mouth and pawed at its nose with a whine.

"Okay, okay." He smiled and turned away, to put the swab and its little cylinder on some kind of machine. He pushed a button and it whirred into life. "No brain scan today. I can tell you're alive. But I'm gonna need a sample of Eddie's blood. Okay?"

The symbiote whined again, ears laid back on its head. Eddie ran a hand down his back and murmured, "Shh, it's okay. He's not gonna hurt me."

"Is this going to be a problem?"

"No." Eddie shook his head. "It's just... protective."

"...Uh-huh." Dr. Steven glanced over at Sleeper then, and they tilted their head at him.

" **Hello, Dr. Steven.** "

"Hello there, troublemaker." Dr. Steven rifled through his supplies and pulled out a packaged needle. "Do you mind helping me out, here?"

They looked over at their parents.

Eddie held the symbiote tightly in his arms—not in a restrictive way, more like how one might swaddle a baby to make it feel protected and safe, with its head tucked under his chin. He held one hand out, to Sleeper, and they took it as they moved to stand behind the examination table.

" **Of course.** " They placed their other hand on their symbiotic parent's flank. " **We will do our best.** "

"I know you will." Dr. Steven nodded toward Eddie's arm, and Sleeper moved out of the way—they climbed onto the examination table and lay across their parents, pressing symbiote into man and resting their head on Eddie's shoulder as he reclined against the table. The dog form trembled but stayed firm, with a soft whine as Dr. Steven tightened a phlebotomy tourniquet around Eddie's upper arm. "This is just a standard blood drawing, alright? I'm not going to do anything to him. You. Sorry, Eddie, I never really know who to talk to in these situations..."

Eddie snorted. "I don't blame you."

Dr. Steven went about drawing Eddie's blood with the same precision as everything else. Disinfected Eddie's skin, once he'd found his place, describing each thing he did in a slow, measured tone. "This will probably pinch a little..." He pressed the needle into the soft flesh at the crook of Eddie's elbow, and the symbiote whined again as Eddie took a tight breath. Then relaxed.

"I'm okay, love." Eddie's other arm tightened around the symbiote's body, shifting against Jubulile's ribcage through Sleeper. "It's okay."

" **Baba, you know we would never let anything happen to father.** "

A startled laugh worked its way from Eddie's throat. "You're really gonna start saying that?" He tucked his chin down to catch their eye. "Baba?"

Sleeper half-purred, putting out a few tendrils to further anchor their other parent. " **We like it.** "

"Okay! All done."

The four of them turned their heads to see—Dr. Steven held a vial of deep red blood, and he had covered the little prick on Eddie's elbow with a piece of gauze, held in place with a band-aid.

"Really? Polka dots?"

"I don't have any medical tape."

Eddie grunted as he sat upright, wrapping his arm around Sleeper's back to keep them from falling—not that they would have fallen, anyway. "No, you know what, I prefer the band-aid."

Dr. Steven laughed.


	15. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Have you had any blood transfusions recently? Or, I don't know, covert organ transplants?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what I like to call.... mindless self-indulgence EEEEEYYYYY 👈😎👈 but for real tho this is self-indulgent and almost entirely pseudo-science.
> 
> Contents:  
> Comic book science, headcanons about symbiote reproduction and blatant disregard of canon, some more memories, an innuendo??, and even MORE jellyfish comparisons which I just realized are like a recurring thing in this fic.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> [Keep it a hundred, I’d rather you trust me than to (love me)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox7RsX1Ee34)  
> [Keep it a whole one hund', don't got you I got nothing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox7RsX1Ee34)

"You appear to have... acquired chimerism."

Eddie frowned. "Is that... bad? Good?"

"It's... not a thing that happens, really." Dr. Steven paused, as he looked through his results. "What I mean is, blood group chimerism is fairly common, but not spontaneously so. It happens in the _womb_. In all of my previous tests and in all of your medical records that I can access, you are blood-type B." He scrolled through a couple of lines. "But as of _this_ test, you have B, _and_ you have O. It's not from the symbiote—I know what the symbiote looks like in your blood, and that's here, too, of course. I could chalk it up to contamination but I don't think that's it. I've looked at these tests and compared them, and compared the swab I took from the symbiote earlier, as well as past samples. I see two blood types, and two DNA sequences, _both_ permanently altered by the Venom symbiote in slightly different ways."

Silence.

"Have you had any blood transfusions recently? Or, I don't know, covert organ transplants?"

Holding the symbiote as he had been for at least the past thirty minutes, Eddie shook his head. "No. I—" His hand stilled across his other's back and he looked up. "Wait."

Dr. Steven and Jubulile both looked at Eddie, the former raising his eyebrows expectantly. "Yes?"

"Can you run a DNA match?"

For a brief moment, Dr. Steven seemed perplexed. Then he nodded and said, "Alchemax has access to the CODIS, yes."

"Great." Eddie hoisted the symbiote in his arms as he hopped down from the table. "Jubulile, can I use your phone?"

"Oh. Yes." Jubulile fished her phone from her pocket and held it out for him. He let the dog-symbiote to the ground before taking it from her, heading to the door as he dialed one of the numbers in her address book.

He slipped out into the hall.

Jubulile watched Dr. Steven work.

All of this was a little outside her area of expertise, she had to admit. She knew boats and the sea and the wind, navigation and magnetism... Not bloodwork or DNA, or... what had the plaque outside his door said? Xenobiology? Astrobiology? But he seemed so engrossed in it, laser-focused, with music playing quietly on an iPod dock nearby. She twirled absentmindedly on the stool she had claimed, spinning in lazy circles and humming along though she didn't recognize the song. Sleeper coiled around her waist.

She could feel their thoughts, their memories.

This exact song, playing a little louder. _Give me a run for my money_. Dr. Steven's smile, speaking to Sleeper. _There is nobody, no one to outrun me_. A blonde woman, all business, briefly conversing with him as he fed them scraps of sandwich meat. _So give me a run for my money_. And Sleeper's parents, happy, beaming, playing with their child and teaching it about the world—

Jubulile hadn’t realized she'd been singing along, Sleeper's memories providing the words. She stuttered as she snapped out of her reverie, and blushed.

Dr. Steven laughed, quietly. "Symbiotes are strange, aren't they?"

She ducked her head. "A little."

[ **Humans are just as strange.** ]

Dr. Steven shot them a knowing smile. "You were raised by a few of us. Or did you forget?"

Sleeper grumbled, rolling out of Jubulile's shoulders in an inky mass, draping themself across the top of her head. Her very own sapient hat.

[ **A technicality.** ]

"We're just as much your own as your symbiote parent is."

[ **Not genetically.** ]

At that, Dr. Steven tilted his head. He turned away from the screen to level his gaze on the two of them. "Family isn't about blood." He paused. "Also, you're wrong."

Jubulile and Sleeper sat silent for a moment. She felt their confusion and realization tumble down her spine, drawing tiny little goosebumps up her arms.

[ **Explain**.]

Dr. Steven let out a half-formed laugh, the kind of huff a parent or aunt might release at the eccentricities of a child. He turned back to the screen as he spoke—"You're special, Sleeper."

Sleeper preened.

"...and vain." He shook his head. "You have his DNA, you know. There are these little genetic markers, here and there. Chromosomes. You don't have blood in the same way humans do, but you still have hemocytes. I never got a chance to test it, but I'd be willing to bet your eyes are at least partially made of blood."

That was... unsettling to consider.

"You're not a hybrid, of course. You're a symbiote, through and through. But every spawn is affected by its environment, and while I don't know whether any of your siblings ever went quite the same direction... Eddie is as much your father genetically as he is socially."

The computer beeped.

"Oh—"

Sleeper coated Jubulile's face, and they said, " **Klyntar reproduce asexually.** "

"Uh-huh." Dr. Steven glanced at them, half-distracted. He pushed his glasses up. "Young jellyfish reproduce by asexual budding as well. But did you know that jellyfish are capable of sexual reproduction?"

Sleeper put out a wave of uncharacteristic uncertainty.

"I've studied my fair share of your kind." Dr. Steven typed something before continuing. "You're not exactly like jellyfish, nor are you exactly like snails or slugs, but you share many characteristics with animals such as those—hermaphroditic, squishy, self-cloning, de-aging, functionally immortal—all of these things so alien to humans and yet present on our own planet in so many small ways." He looked at them, with a smile. With the slightest wonder. Then wrinkled his nose. "I'm not necessarily saying your parents have known each other in the _biblical_ sense, because human-symbiote bonds are fairly complex, emotionally and physically, but..." He paused. "You _do_ have your father's genetic material, in a way that seems unusual for... 'normal' spawn." He made scare quotes with his fingers.

[ **What are you implying?** ]

He laughed, just as the door opened again and Eddie re-entered the room.

"Speak of the Devil and he shall appear—" Dr. Steven gestured Eddie over to join him. "I have your match, it's—"

"Flash Thompson."

Dr. Steven looked at him sidelong. "Yes... How did you know?"

"Lucky guess."

The symbiote woofed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Relevant to the shared blood thing: My rewrite for this AU, of how Eddie escaped the Maker's lab: [link](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16941639/chapters/39962577)
> 
> according to resident Flash Thompson encyclopedia (thx kitausuret) flash is blood-type A but as was also pointed out, canon is obsolete and I can do whatever the fuck I want, so I've decided Flash is a universal donor. Also because B can't receive blood transfusions from A and I refuse to budge on my very scientific Eddie-is-B decision, which I came to by looking at a Japanese blood type personality summary and going, "I like that one."
> 
> I don't know that I'm actually implying Sleeper is the product of eddie and the symbiote fucking, or that their spawning was the product of a sexual reproductive cycle, but I DO think in some way something was extracted from eddie's body, maybe his blood, maybe direct duplicates of dna, I'm not sure. At least in this AU.  
> More like an extra heavy influence from the parent's host or something, I guess.  
> I mean.  
> Don't get it twisted--Eddie and the symbiote have definitely fucked.  
> But I'm not sure if that is necessarily why Sleeper is like that in this AU. Maybe.
> 
>  
> 
> I have like, a document where I wrote out a bunch of headcanons about symbiote biology and some of that includes a part about them having multiple reproductive cycles, with the main consistent one being asexual budding, and there being a secondary sexual one for mature klyntar in safe social groups that functions similarly to snails or slugs (using harpoons)... but probably still significantly different from any earth creatures anyway. probably more for the purpose of social bonding than genetic variation.


	16. Melting snowflakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie's apartment in New York is small, but the electricity still works.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contents:  
> Grumpy Flash, hugging, some paternal teasing from eddie, and sleeper's further adventures with morality
> 
> Kind of filler....  
> The next chapters will be a little more....uh... eventful.

"One: I'm _still_ not a medical doctor, and I really wish you people would remember that." Dr. Steven tapped his pen against his hand. "Two: based on everything you've told me and the swab I took, and based on its behavior as a... dog... your symbiote is fully functional but weakened, and may have been—may still be—compartmentalizing traumatic memories and blocking your shared connection in self-defense... But with enough perseverance and understanding, this situation should resolve itself over time... I think." He set the pen aside and turned to face Eddie fully. "Practice pushing your thoughts at it and listening. I know I'm a scientist, and scientists are supposed to offer fancy treatments and medications, but... as with many illnesses; patience, faith and love can go a long way."

Jubulile only half-listened as they said their goodbyes—though she herself turned, with Sleeper reaching out from her hands, to say goodbye to Dr. Steven as well. He patted Sleeper with a smile. "You'd better visit me again sometime."

Jubulile grinned and the two of them said, " **No promises.** "

Outside, the snow had built up a few inches, sparkling under the streetlights.

A honk broke the wintery silence, as Flash pulled up to the curb, with Andi in the passenger seat. The window rolled down, and he leaned across her to say, "Get in! I've been driving around the block for an hour!"

Eddie and Jubulile climbed into the back—Flash's wheelchair had been dismantled and put into the trunk to make room for all four of them—and Eddie put his hand on the back of Flash's seat. "Thanks again for doing this."

Flash rolled his eyes, clearly visible in the rearview, but he said, "Whatever. It's fine. Just buckle up and tell me where you live."

Eddie obliged, and gave Flash his address.

The ride to Eddie's apartment was quiet and a little awkward, much as the drive from Philadelphia to New York had been earlier in the day. No one brought up the blood, or anything else. Jubulile frowned to herself, and Sleeper twined between her fingers with a reassuring purr beneath her ribs. She softened her face and her feelings, and leaned her head against the icy cold, damp window, and watched the snow zip past.

It was so beautiful, so silent.

Few cars, few people. The moon high in the sky, peeking occasionally through breaks in the dusky pink clouds.

The car came to a stop outside of a condemned apartment building.

"I'm not gonna drag myself up a bunch of stairs _in the snow_ just to see whatever shithole you live in, and I'm sure as hell not gonna let any of you carry me, so if you wanna say goodbye, you can do it right now."

Jubulile frowned again.

Andi came out of the car with her, at least, and they hugged. Sleeper and Mania both wrapped around Jubulile and Andi just for a minute, all of them tangled up together, snowflakes melting into their shifting forms, until they finally let go. Jubulile smiled at Andi and got a big grin in return—

"We're coming back to get you for New Year's Eve."

Jubulile raised her eyebrows. "Are you?"

"If—" Andi's  face was flushed from the cold. "If that's okay, I mean."

"I think we would like that."

Andi hugged her again, very fast, and said, "See you in a couple days" before throwing herself back into the car. Eddie slammed the trunk shut, and the car pulled away from the curb, leaving Jubulile and Sleeper on the sidewalk, and Eddie standing in the road, surrounded by the thickening snow. The flakes had gotten much larger, fluffier, blocking out visibility so that Flash's boxy car disappeared into whiteness entirely.

Eddie lifted Jubulile's suitcase up onto the sidewalk, hefting his own backpack over his shoulder. "Come on, let's get inside."

He lived several floors up, and the building had clearly been abandoned (obvious even without the condemnation sign) and yet, when they entered his apartment and Eddie hit the light switch, the lamp connected to it flickered on. Fitful, sure, and somewhat dim, but on. She lingered by the door, taking the space in as Eddie turned up the thermostat.

Bathroom immediately to the left, tucked alongside a closet; mattress in the corner beneath the window; a nook in the back which must have been a kitchen...

"It's... cozy."

Eddie snorted. "It's cramped."

There was no furniture, not even a stool. Just that floor lamp beside the door. An old cathode TV with an antennae on top sat beside one of the outlets, with a small handheld radio next to it. As she moved further into the apartment, she could just see a blender on the counter in the kitchen, beside the compact refrigerator. It seemed to be the nicest thing Eddie owned, and the cleanest.

She leaned her suitcase up against the wall.

Before she could say anything more, Eddie looked at her with a sly grin (not quite reaching his eyes) and said, "Soooo... you and Andi?"

"Wha—" Jubulile squared her shoulders. "I don't know what you mean." She could feel herself warming from her head to her toes, and couldn't place whether that was from the heater kicking in, or embarrassment. "She's a very nice friend."

He just chuckled, more genuine now, as he moved his way into the kitchen.

***

[ **I have been thinking.** ]

Jubulile raised her eyes, almost as if trying to look at herself. "Oh, _have_ you?" She suppressed a smile.

They whirred at her, not truly offended but petulant nonetheless. [ **Yes. And I have decided that I will not apologize for protecting us, but I think I am beginning to understand why humans put so much worth on mercy.** ]

Her expression shifted to a more thoughtful state, as she stopped writing and closed her journal. She could just hear the shower running, in the bathroom, as she held her hand out. "What brought this on?"

Sleeper seeped out of her skin, settling in her open palm. Little red eyes, little green heart-face. They watched her and she watched them for a good long moment before Sleeper told her, [ **I care about you.** ] They put out tendrils to wrap around her fingers, her wrist. [ **I knew only a few humans until I met you, and now I know more, and I have realized that if anything happened to you... to any of you, not just my parents... I would kill those responsible.** ]

Well.

[ **I realize, however, that I am not the only person with loved ones.** ]

Eddie was singing Frank Sinatra in the shower.

[ **And I would not harm anyone who did not first harm another.** ]

She pet her little puddly palmful of Sleeper with a slight smile. "I can accept that."

They thrummed smugly.

Jubulile's phone buzzed, and she pulled it out of her pocket. A text from Andi.

_We're probs leaving at 7 tonight. See u around 8ish?_

_Sounds good. We'll be here_.

Sleeper reached out a tendril and poked at the touchscreen, sending Andi a few fireworks, and two each of the alien and girl emojis. Jubulile giggled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a summary of this chapter: "oh no, our father figures are fighting with each other but I sure do have a huge crush on you"
> 
> Also I realized that I never actually established the fact that Flash drove them to Alchemax HQ in the first place LOL   
> He and Andi were in the car when Eddie called him from Dr. Steven's lab   
> (and they probably had a weird argument about it, lbr)
> 
>  
> 
> it's like 1 pm when Andi texts Jubulile. Flash's intent is to leave at 7, pick Jubulile and co. up at 8, get back to Philly at 9, go to Andi's aunt's place for the rest of the night—but that doesn't mean traffic will allow it :P


	17. Intermission: Every time I see you falling, I get down on my knees and pray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> L o v e y o u

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contents:  
> ABSTRACT VIOLENCE  
> blood and possibly gore, briefly  
> mild religious symbolism  
> uhhh... guns. i guess.  
> separation and capture  
> temporary/implied character death  
>  
> 
> Eddie POV, with slight symbiote POV at the end.
> 
> (this is still the same day as the last chapter, just later in the evening)

5 pm, and he felt the urge to visit the church.

It was dim, cleared out and cleaned out, though graffiti marked many of the pews and parts of the architecture. That huge white cross behind the altar had been covered in streaks of color, a clouded sunset which moved from the cross itself to the surrounding walls in a mural of names and tags and faces and memorials, flocks of birds and the black silhouettes of communing bodies.

Abandoned, but not neglected.

As he stood staring up at the riot of color and motion, he felt the curl of his other down his arm, over his knuckles. He couldn't remember the last time they had been able to hold hands like this, and though it still couldn't really speak to him, it pulsed with a nostalgia that caught in his throat. Remembering the earliest days of their relationship, what must have been at least ten years ago, now. He lifted his hand to his mouth and kissed its black fingers between his own, holding this sensation in his head like a prayer.

His own name barely echoed back at him.

A shiver picked its way up his spine and then—

**EDDIE—**

Flecks of blue light refracted across the walls of the church as the rose window shattered behind him, over the doorway.

**_Eddie!_ **

It took a moment for his legs to buckle, and just for a second everything was silent other than the tinkle of broken glass hitting the marble tiling.

**Eddie, no!**

His knees met the ground, then he collapsed forward, slumping over the altar and sliding off to the side with a heavy thud.

Black tendrils fluttered and spiked around him in great agitation—sank into his body and rose back out in turns, covering his face, pushing the bullet back out through his brain, the back of his skull—The bullet which it had stopped halfway with its own mass. Blood soaked the back of his head, neck, shirt. The floor.

 **Need you**.

But boots tapped across the tiles and a tide of sound bounced off of the walls of Our Lady of Saints, tearing the symbiote from Eddie's body in great waves of pain and piercing motion before it could heal him more fully.

 **L o v e  y o u**. . .

And for the thousandth time, it found itself helpless, pressed into a cylindrical prison of plasteel no bigger than a shoebox.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A much less soft chapter than the last one LOL  
> But trust me, okay?  
> There's going to be a happy ending.   
> In approximately 3 more chapters and 4 character epilogues.
> 
>  
> 
> and not to quote the exact same thing I already quoted once but, he's only MOSTLY dead.
> 
> ([Every time I think of you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uEBuqkkQRk)  
> [I feel shot right through with a bolt of blue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uEBuqkkQRk))


	18. Absent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where on earth is Eddie Brock?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just gonna upload the rest of the fic now. I think I've reread and tweaked the final chapters enough for it to be fine.  
> So.... *mario voice* Here we go!
> 
> Contents:  
> Psychic/mental links, reckless driving, ✨espionage✨, ...kind of mention of a dead body but not really???  
> and non-consensual medical stuff/sedation

Eddie had left just before five o'clock.

It was nine, now, and everyone was late.

The drumbeat of magnetic fields she had grown so accustomed to in Eddie and the symbiote's presence had dimmed considerably.

Jubulile's phone vibrated with a text from Andi.

_We're here!_

She didn't have a key. She looked around the apartment, uncertain of what to do. In her head, Sleeper formed images, of black threads through the insides of a lock. They settled around her shoulders, and she nodded. "Alright." She slipped her phone into her pocket and left the apartment, locking the door behind her with Sleeper's help, and taking the stairs half-running.

"Hey!" Andi popped the door open, leaning across the backseat. Her smile turned to a frown at Jubulile's tension, and she glanced out at the sidewalk. "Is... Eddie not coming?"

Jubulile slammed the door shut as she slid into the seat. "It's not that—" She clicked her seatbelt into place and met Flash's eyes in the rearview mirror.

"He went somewhere before dinner but he never came back."

"Maybe he got sidetracked." He looked out at the road, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as the car idled. He obviously didn't believe it, himself.

She pressed her hand to her chest.

"It's been four hours." When she said it like that, it didn't seem such a long time, but he hadn't even told her where he was going, and that weird silence in her chest told her she was right to worry. "He promised to come home before seven."

Flash sighed, and began to pull out into the road.

"Mania," Jubulile reached for Andi's hand, pushing Sleeper outward to wrap around their hands. " **Help us search...** "

Almost immediately, further black joined in, spreading across Andi's body as they looked at each other. Mania and Sleeper half-blended into each other, at the palms, and Sleeper focused deeply.

No Eddie, but distantly... his other. Distraught, muffled.

" **Go.** "

Flash pulled back on the accelerator.

Sleeper and Mania directed him down the snow-slick, icy streets—one turn took them sliding halfway into an intersection, and they almost spun out entirely, leaving a long arc across the caked, frozen slush.

A truck skidded to a stop just before they would have collided and the driver leaned on her horn.

Flash flipped her off, absolutely in the wrong, and fishtailed his way back on course.

If the roads hadn't been so uncharacteristically empty...

" **Please be careful.** "

Flash snapped out a sharp, "I'm _trying_ , okay?" His knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel, making the ends of the Lichtenberg figures trailing out past his wrists stand out in red. His pupils were wide and dark, and his voice strained as he spoke more quietly. "Just... I'm trying."

They could taste his pulse, approaching an almost concerning tempo.

But he kept driving.

It was a roundabout path, but they found their way with Jubulile's mental compass as a guide, a dull throb, a building headache.

The car slid to a stop—Flash put the car into park with a force that threatened to snap the gearshift.

A skyscraper, all glass and steel. Completely nondescript, in a sea of other skyscrapers.

It was 10 PM.

"So what's the plan?"

Sleeper let go of Mania's hand and shoved the doors open so hard the hinges creaked—

"Hey!! Watch it!"

They turned to look at Flash and Mania, one leg in, one leg out as they sat at the edge of the seat. " **We are going in. You are staying here.** "

He gawked at them. "Wh—" Then he glared. "No! I'm not gonna just _sit_ here and be useless!"

They stared at him until his nostrils flared and he looked away.

" **We need you...** " They pushed their way out of the car and to their feet in one fluid motion. " **...to be ready.** "

"I'm not your _chauffeur_!"

Mania joined Sleeper on the sidewalk, though she leaned through the still-open door and said, " **Coach, you don't have a symbiote. Also, you're the only one of us who knows how to drive.** "

She shut the door on his disgruntled, "You listen to me, young lady—"

" **Let's go.** "

The guards never saw them coming.

...Literally.

They slipped into cloaking before they entered the building, hand-in-hand to keep from losing each other and to keep that focus. Tracing that unhappy echo through the halls, up the stairs. It grew louder, though still muffled, and they stole carefully toward a security panel.

Locked...

Complicated, too... Biometric, and Jubulile doubted she or Andi would be able to activate it.

They would have to wait for someone to open the door.

No, that wasn't an option. They could barely feel the symbiote and couldn't feel Eddie at all. She couldn't risk it. They couldn't risk it.

What was a good option?

A gust from the air system wafted across their skin, and Sleeper rippled with a shiver.

Ah.

[ **The vents.** ]

It was always the vents.

One was busted, the cover creaking slightly as it swung, a shift in airflow.

Sleeper grinned and wasted no time in slinging them up into the spaces between the walls, the floors, the ceilings—the circulatory system of the building itself. It connected to every hallway, every room, every little space with few exceptions. And it took them straight where they needed to be.

[ **Here—** ] Sleeper pressed a hand and a thought toward Mania. [ **Wait**.]

A room that looked like a morgue crossed with a dentist's office, stainless steel everywhere. A much colder and impersonal space compared to Dr. Steven's lab, despite not really being all that much different. Silent. Maybe that was why. Huge and bare and silent. Just rows of drawers and fancy cabinets and a small clear drum of black slime—

Their parent. Their baba, as Jubulile had coined.

The symbiote's prison seemed to be hooked up to some kind of tube, and a machine—sedative, perhaps? It didn't move at all.

" **Oh, god.** "

And there was Eddie. A surgeon's lamp pulled to shine down on his body, lying on a steel table.

Sleeper bristled off of Jubulile's skin in a ripple of alarm.

Pale, very pale, very sallow. Strapped down around his arms, his waist, his neck, his ankles, his forehead. Eyes half open. Plastic mask covering his nose and mouth.

Why strap down a corpse? Why administer oxygen?

Sleeper rumbled in her chest.

Eddie was hooked up to a cluster of machinery, a heart rate monitor included. It beeped every 2 seconds. So he really _wasn't_ dead. Yet.

"Greetings, Maker." A robotic voice, accompanied by the hiss of an opening door and quiet footsteps.

[ **Shhh.** ]

"Status update on Edward Brock, please."

The robot continued with barely a hitch. "Brain activity: abnormal. Minimal to nonexistent with occasional spikes in activity. Heartrate: abnormal. 30 beats per minute. Blood oxygen levels: abnormal. Less than 50 percent. Respiratory rate: abnormal. Less than 5 breaths per minute."

A man walked beneath the vent grating, lanky and unusually dressed. He paused beside Eddie's body, unbuckling one of the wrist straps so he could lift Eddie's arm up. He let it fall. "Fascinating." He strapped Eddie's arm back in. "I initially thought a bullet to the brain might be excessive, and yet... Here you are, just over five hours later..." He fiddled with one of the electrodes on Eddie's chest before turning, pressing his hands together.

"What of the Venom symbiote?"

"Sedated. Unresponsive."

"Good." He stretched an arm out looooooooong to one of his sleek cabinets and opened it. A plume of chilled air drifted out, a cloud of white as it touched the warmer air of the laboratory. He plucked a flask from the rack and closed it again before withdrawing his arm to the steel examination table. "Oh, Edward." As if he could hear him. "I must confess, we only wanted you for your body. You're such an... experienced host. All those little traces..." His smirk was unsettlingly smug. "So many lovely puzzle pieces."

He screwed the flask to a tube attached to Eddie's arm. "I _do_ hope this doesn't give you an embolism, but you likely should have been dead hours ago, anyhow. We just need a puppet. "

The black and red, viscous semi-liquid in the vial began to inch down the tube.

" **GET AWAY FROM HIM!** "

The cover on the vent clattered across the floor as Sleeper barreled down into the room—into the body of this long-limbed, helmeted man. He twisted around them and they around him in a mess of elongated limbs, he laughing, even when Mania slammed into the floor behind them.

"Two of you, hmm?" He moved like a snake out of Sleeper's grasp. Snapped into place between them. "I'll have to call security."

The robot intercom: "Right away, Maker."

They faced off, Sleeper whipping taller and taller, claws longer and longer. The Maker composed, head tilted as if in curiosity. On his other side, Mania, all spikes and fangs, eyes glowing.

"Aren't you two an interesting pair..."

He shifted and Sleeper shot an arm out past him to grab the tubes and wiring hooked up to their father's body—they _tugged_. Eddie barely bled, as machinery clattered to the floor—as Sleeper swiped it all to the side.

The Maker got them by the arm, and Mania put him in a headlock.

He sounded completely normal when he spoke. "You are the baby, are you not?"

Sleeper released their handful of wires and tubes in favor of fastening their acid green claws around his face. His fingers, in turn, tightened around their arm.

" **How do you know?** "

" _Lucky guess._ " He grinned wider.

They shrieked—If he had hurt Dr. Steven—no, rein in the temper. Collect themselves... Be calm... Every little bit of them roiled... Not just Sleeper and Jubulile, but even the dregs of half-conscious others. Toxin and Carnage and Raze. In spite of everything...

What could they use to their advantage?

That little vial, still attached to the tube, oozing slime onto the floor.

Jubulile's compass spun so hard it screamed.

_c o m e  t o  m e_

The sound of stomping boots filled the air.

Time and space seemed to dilate as Sleeper reached out for the red and black symbiote on the ground.

 _Yesssss_......

Distantly, they sensed Mania turning to face security with a wail, fire swirling up her arms—

Their hand closed around Grendel.

"Well, that's the next best thing!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not pictured: flash doing this in the car after they leave him behind:   
>    
> he's just had a very stressful drive (even moreso than usual) and he feels useless and it's very frustrating okay
> 
> Anywho, like I said. Eddie's only MOSTLY dead. Also, if you're wondering what's keeping eddie alive (other than the life support system) it's flash's blood-and-symbiote sample combined with the permanent alterations symbiotes have wrought on his body... (instead of lethal withdrawal—I think it's weird that flash went through symbiotic withdrawal that almost killed him but eddie has never shown that even when he was literally dying of cancer... I guess different bodies react in different ways?) Anyway he can still die it just takes a while. 
> 
> as an aside, about the fact that eddie didn't tell Jubulile where he was going—it's because he figured he was just going to go to the church real quick, maybe pray or something, and then go right back home—he didn't think it mattered. generally most people don't plan on getting shot in the head in a church... lol
> 
> oh, also Dr. Steven is fine, I just didn't know how to... indicate that..... *sweats*   
> Richards simply had some kind of bug set up in his lab.


	19. Mother, Father, Progenitor, Universe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her mind was an ocean of color.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mmmm baby you know I love abstract symbolism and dream (???) sequences
> 
> Contents:  
> #symbolism, drowning imagery and general ocean and boat stuff including: sea monsters!, overall badassery, transformation, something I can really only describe as like, "seeing the face of the universe" or some shit, possible body horror but it's only one brief line, symbiotic CPR

Her mind was an ocean of color. Loud, _pulsing_ color. The red of blood, the red of wine, the red of berries. The blue, the black of ink. Of the night sky. Of tar. The green-yellow-yellow-green of nothing entirely natural, flashing in the light. White, too. Pink, purple, orange, turquoise. Like the pressure blooms of static behind her eyelids if she pushed her hands against her closed eyes.

She was in a boat.

The moon hung in the sky.

The kraken reached from the oily sea below in black and red and white.

The mast snapped and the boat crumpled and she sank into the water, surrounded on all sides by the voices of hundreds upon thousands, all drowned by the low thrum of one in particular.

_You're mine._

No!

She struggled, kicking. The water felt like thick slush around her limbs, freezing cold.

**MINE**

Sleeper.

**OURS**

Not just Sleeper.

The kraken surrounded her but so did her others. _All_ of them. Black and blue and red and green and violet—they blended together into a single voice-consciousness-being-body, golden-red and abyss-black and searing ultraviolet.

Five voices in one, as the water broke above their heads and they were lifted into the sky shining and beautiful.

" **You will be ours as well, Knull.** "

Their claws, their tendrils, their teeth, every inch of their flesh pulled at Grendel. Anchors and harpoons dragging the leviathan-dragon-kraken-beast-symbiote into their body.

Jubulile could feel her body shrieking down to every atom.

They bled together, each claw from Knull-and-Grendel's kraken connecting them to every point of the universe at once.

Every star and constellation, every tide lapping at the rocks of every beach and shore. Every cloud and every moon.

The compass came to a stop.

This was the hivemind.

She reached out, and they reached out.

Knull's face contorted in a snarl of needle fangs, his hair like a cloak behind him.

He stood no chance.

They unfurled their wings, translucent red like blood, like glass, like life-and-death-tinted seawater under the light of the full moon. They drove their sword, the same red, into the core of Klyntar—formed from every body, every mass, every tendril—and a shockwave emanated from the infinite collection of molten symbiotic life there, stripping away every shadow, every scrap of umbral darkness, scouring it like water scours stone with sand over millennia of erosion.

The lights of Reed Richards' lab shattered with a loud series of pops. Windows on cabinets. Anything glass—shattered.

The Dreamer Knight stood in the center of it all, opalescent in their armor, shining brightly, the main source of light in the room, now.

The guards knelt before them.

The Maker, at their feet.

Only Mania stood, haloed in hellfire.

Stared.

" ** _We are the Light._** " They raised their sword to the Maker's shoulder, just beside his neck. " ** _We will not kill you._** " Teeth split their helmet in a broad, thorny grin. " ** _But we make no promises for our friend._** "

The maker sat on his knees, staring up at them through the mangled remains of his helmet. Every little bacterial cell, every little virus that made up his being, every little parasitic swathe of life... He just stared. Struck down by the face of the universe itself, in all its glory and vastness, even as his pseudo-body repaired itself.

The security detail...? Their eyes had been seared from their skulls.

Mania grinned back at them. " **I don't think he'll be a problem anymore.** "

True enough.

The Knight became the Dreamer became a writhing mess of fighting tentacles became Sleeper.

The heartrate monitor beeped, still attached somehow.

Sleeper rushed to their father's side. He'd stopped breathing entirely, and they didn't know if that meant anything. They needed—

Their parent. They needed their baba.

The cylinder still sat on its stand, slightly dented but otherwise intact, made of God-only-knew-what. The tank it connected to, however, had burst, leeching a gaseous suppressant into the air. Spread out enough, diluted enough that it did not affect them as they grabbed the cage from the stand and tore the tube from the top. They hurried back to Eddie's side, cylinder under-arm, and overturned it above his chest—

Slowly, their parent, their mother-father-progenitor-source, seeped out, weakly pushing at the sides of the enclosure.

The symbiote fell to Eddie's chest. It moved sluggishly, but with purpose. Crawled over his sternum, up around his neck, across his blue lips, and sank in.

Mania and Sleeper stared down at him, tense in the darkness of the lab. Emergency runner lights, which must have been shielded by something stronger than glass, had come on inside of the floor, and barely caught on the steel edges of the table and the equipment.

First, his chest expanded with a gasp, a bellows pumped manually by the symbiote in his cells. Osmosis was good, but sometimes you need more than that.

Second, he began to twitch and moan as his nerves regained feeling, as various muscles regained sufficient blood flow. Sleeper and Mania ripped the straps from the table, not even bothering to slide belt from buckle in their hurry to free him.

Third, his eyes opened, pupils glinting, huge and reflective in the dark.

Sleeper's innate biological clock told them that it took five full minutes for Eddie to actually rise into consciousness, despite his open eyes, and another five for him to process his surroundings. His breath quickened, and tears sprang to his eyes, and he whispered, " _Love_..." with a hand lifted weakly to his chest.

Finally, he looked at Sleeper. Really looked and saw.

He pulled them down into his arms, holding them tightly, tight enough to hurt a simple human body but not to hurt them. "I'm so glad you're okay—" He just kept saying that, rubbing their back with barely-shaking hands. After a moment, he put out an arm and grabbed Mania, too, pulling her into their embrace. Mania slipped from Andi's face and she leaned into it. A cluster of arms and bodies and relief.

Black tentacles lifted from Eddie's skin and wrapped around them all, half-covering his face, humming and thrumming, and though neither Jubulile nor Andi had a connection to Eddie's other, they could feel its happiness through Mania and Sleeper, all purring and grumbling in soothing social-familial contact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I said "Jubulile van Scotter is the chosen one" I was not fucking kidding lmfao
> 
>  
> 
> I have a rough sketch of the Sleeper-Toxin-Raze-Carnage hybrid symbiote (aka Dreamer) but I don't have any neater or final colored drawings, and I have nothing of the Dreamer Knight form unfortunately. Might draw them at some point...  
> 
> 
> Fun fact:  
> Originally I had planned for Sleeper and Venom to form a hybrid at one point as well (I scrapped that obvs) and drew out a rough concept for that too:  
> 
> 
> (you can find both of these images uploaded to my art blog here: [link](http://hoardlikegoldenirises.tumblr.com/post/181540399482)


	20. New Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Almost the entire universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contents:  
> Description of subconjunctival bleeding   
> (aka hemorrhaging blood in your eyeball)   
> (aka bloodshot eyes but... like... 500 times more intense and freaky to look at)  
> Seriously, don't look up subconjunctival bleeding unless you are 100% cool with seeing someone whose eye whites are literally full of blood.
> 
>  
> 
> ....that's about it

"Oh my god! What happened to your eyes?!"

Flash's sclera were almost entirely red, busted capillaries hemorrhaging blood beneath the surface of his eye. He answered with, "What do you think? That big explosion lit up the whole block." He glanced at himself in the rearview mirror and made a face. "Lucky I didn't look straight at it or I'd probably be dealing with more than a migraine right now."

"You look like a horror movie." Andi grabbed him by the jaw, squishing his cheeks as she turned his head to get a better look. " _Gross_."

His voice came out muffled when he spoke—"Oh boy! Just what I've always wanted." He pried Andi's fingers off of his face and beamed at Jubulile. "Did _you_ do the explosion?"

Jubulile nodded, reaching for Andi's hand. Warm, and familiar. She looked between Flash and Eddie, and grinned. "Now you can tell people you _almost_ saw the universe."

Flash raised his eyebrows, and glanced over to Eddie. "The—yeah?" He let out a breath, leaning back into his seat and running his hand through his hair. "Wow."

All of them sat in silence for a while, maybe a few minutes... All seven of them. Flash, and Andi and Mania, and Jubulile and Sleeper, and Eddie... and Eddie's other, who had reached out to all of them, now, sticking to their knees, or shoulders, or whatever it could reach, with a small, wide-eyed face wound around Eddie's elbow and forearm, wrapping his hand up in black goo.

Sleeper reached out, too, and Mania, and they all spread out their emotions.

So content.

So tired.

Flash broke the moment to ask, "Hey, Eddie, my eyes are still a little funny and—and honestly, I'm so sick of driving, and I just... Do you know how to drive with hand controls?" He made a pathetic, over-exaggerated, pleading face. A _pout_. "Please say yes."

Eddie blinked. He looked back at Jubulile and Andi, as if they might somehow have an answer he could use. Then down at the black slime between his fingers. Then back at Flash. "I—" He frowned. "I haven't driven in _ten years_ , Flash."

Jubulile giggled.

"Come oooon, I'm sure it's fine!"

"It's snowing!" Though Eddie spoke sharply, it was quiet and a little amused.

Flash sighed. "I know." He settled his hands lightly on the steering wheel, but didn't move other than that. "I'm sorry."

A deeper-running apology than he let on, if their shallow group link was anything to go by.

"Hey." Eddie reached out, setting his hand on Flash's shoulder. He grinned wolfishly. "Deep breath."

"Wh—"

Flash made to speak, but his words were cut off by the symbiote surging from his shoulder and across his face, enveloping his head entirely for just a second. And then it pulled away (Flash gasped) with a mischievous little grin manifested on its slick black flesh before disappearing back into Eddie's skin.

"If you _ever_ do that again—" Flash blinked his eyes a few times, clearly disoriented. "Don't ever do that again." He looked in the mirror, at his still-ruptured blood vessels and the red covering his eye whites. But he seemed sharper, clearer focused.

"Wasn't my idea." Eddie smirked.

The symbiote flicked a little pink tongue out toward Flash's elbow with a _mrrrp_.

He sighed again. "Yeah, yeah. Thanks, bud."

***

The ride home—to Flash's home—was... peaceful.

For the most part.

Andi called her aunt while they were on the road, apologizing profusely, making up excuses about traffic and ice and how dangerous it was to drive at night—"I know I promised, but it's already almost midnight, and we've been driving half the day—" ("We?! You mean _I've_ been driving half the day!")

Nearly there, the sky lit up blue and purple and red.

Flash pulled over to the side of the road, and rolled down his window to lean out—they all looked up as fireworks streamed into the sky like so many shooting stars, distant and very barely audible.

Much closer, someone shot off a roman candle on the side of the road and it fluttered up into the air in a shower of glittering light.

Andi squeezed Jubulile's hand, and said, "Hey... Happy New Year."

Jubulile grinned at her. "Happy New Year."

Flash let out a whoop before pulling his head back into the car.


	21. Epilogue: Flash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flash and Eddie have a brief conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contents:  
> awkwardness, reminiscing, emotional constipation probably
> 
> ...they're working on it.

"I bought _three_ bottles of sparkling apple juice and a half a gallon of ice cream for this, so you better appreciate me."

Flash encouraged—definitely did not force or coerce—everyone into taking sparkling floats, or ice cream, or whatever he could ply them with, as long as it was unhealthy and delicious. Luckily, no one seemed to mind. All smiles, laughing, tentacles playing with each other—

Man, his life was _weird_.

Jubulile sat on the floor with Andi, a bowl of potato chips between them and a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Sleeper pooled in her lap, purring, and she pet them while Andi spoke to her with great energy for so late at night.

Flash and Eddie sat on the couch.

Eddie seemed tired (he wasn't the only one by a longshot), but it was warm in Flash's apartment, and everyone was _happy_.

The symbiote had curled down to hold Eddie's hand, and maybe Flash couldn't keep a bit of jealousy from rearing its nasty little head but...

But a tendril of black reached out for him, softly, and twined itself between his fingers as well, and his breath hitched a little.

"I don't want you to be mad at me anymore." Eddie's voice was low and rumbly, very quiet.

Flash frowned down at his lap. "I..." He swung his head up, to look at Eddie—he was staring at him. He always _stared_ at him. Flash bit the inside of his lip. "I don't want me to be mad at you anymore, either." He wiggled his fingers, with the symbiote woven between them. "But... It's hard."

He was glad just to be alive, glad he hadn't gotten them all into a wreck, glad Eddie and the symbiote were together, glad Andi and Jubulile were okay, and Mania and Sleeper—but, much as Flash hated to admit it, Eddie had _scared_ him, the way he yelled the other night. Tapped into a deep part of his brain that he thought he'd managed to escape (he hadn't, obviously) and dredged up bad, bad memories.

And it had only been a few days since then, and it was hard to get past a whole lifetime of trauma and instinct and self-preservation.

"I think you saved my life." Eddie ran his hand up his own arm, with some deliberation. "Your blood, at least."

What could he say to that? "You used to hate me."

Eddie nodded. "Yeah. I did. I've hated a lot of people."

"What changed?"

He shrugged, awkwardly. "Everything? Four, five... however many years... That's a long time."

" _Shit_." Flash pressed a hand to his eyes, rubbing them. "Have we really known each other that long? Not even that— _longer_." He let out a breath and looked up at the ceiling. "Jesus. A lot's happened."

"Yeah." Eddie's hand settled on his shoulder, with great hesitation, the same feverish-hot it always was. It felt... nice. That surprised Flash, for some reason. It didn't feel threatening.

Eddie seemed like he had something else to say, but instead he just gave Flash's shoulder an oh-so-masculine pat and muttered, "Sure has."

The symbiote curled tighter around Flash's hand, and he let himself smile, small and gentle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not pictured: eddie and flash staying up way too late talking through their shit and eddie eventually just passing the fuck out, half on top of flash, much to flash's irritation-but-secret-enjoyment


	22. Epilogue: Andi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mania has some alone time together with herself and Andi takes that first step toward something more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contents:  
> Implied abuse (from Lee), mentions of killing, webslinging, a bit of a realization, aaaand a little kiss >w>

Having another person with her again felt... overwhelming, but in a good way.

Someone in her head and her body, keeping her company, flowing through her bloodstream... That swirl of emotion and wordless feeling. To feel always protected, never alone. She hugged herself, they hugged each other, themselves, Mania on the rooftops, looking out over the rest of the buildings and the streetlamps and drifting snow and pale moon.

She'd killed a man, though. Only six days ago.

That was... a lot.

And Mania was so... fractured. It hurt a little bit, feeling their memories rejoin. Feeling the things she'd missed while Mania was away. Rough edges not quite fitting the way they used to.

In some ways, the blood on her hands scared her.

But... in other ways? Oh, it had been satisfying.

Not the act of killing, but the act of killing a man with such a calculatingly cruel mind. A man so manipulative.

Anyway, Sleeper was the one who'd pierced his skull.

No mercy.

Anything to protect Jubulile.

They checked Andi's phone.

4 am.

She'd forgotten how it felt to just be out, like this, with her symbiote. A constant loop of thoughts, but not in a bad way. Comforting, despite the jagged edges and pushed-down anxiety when certain memories rose unbidden from the depths. Andi tried her best to comfort Mania but they'd probably have to spend a little while together before her symbiote stopped tensing at the slightest negative thought.

They swung between buildings, just for the thrill of moving together, expansion of lungs, pump of heart, flicker of fire in their shared soul—up, release, a silhouette against the sky. A freefall through the snowflakes, whirling around them as they displaced the air, forgetting, for a moment, how cruel the world could be. _Thwip_ —they took a corner tight and hit the road at a run, working their momentum off through the ice and slush. They laughed as they slowed. Turned their face up to the stars.

Andi had missed being Mania so much.

Her symbiote returned the sentiment in a bubbling font of _happy_ and _missed you_ and _warm_.

They grappled back up to the rooftops and swung their way back to Flash's apartment, to everyone else... Home. Andi was home and Mania was home and the apartment was home and everyone there was _home_. Andi couldn't wait to climb into bed beside Jubulile, to wrap her arms around her and press her cold nose against her neck just to make her giggle—

Oh.

Mania paused outside of the apartment.

They could see Flash asleep on the couch, connected by a tendril to Eddie on the inflatable mattress.

The door to the bedroom slightly ajar as they had left it.

They opened the window together, as quietly as possible, and slipped inside with a little puff of cold winter air and quickly melting snowflakes. Flash shivered, but that was it, as they moved across the living room all fluid and sleek—Mania slipped away under Andi's skin as she poked her head into the doorway.

A flash of red pupils in the dark greeted her.

"Did I wake you?" Andi shut the door behind her with a tiny little click.

Jubulile blinked, a little dazed, then shook her head. "No, I don't think so."

Andi stood awkwardly at the foot of the bed, in her pajamas. Yeah, she'd gone out in her pajamas. Everyone deserved a lazy day, and when you have a symbiotic partner... well, why not dress comfortably?

She gathered herself up and climbed onto Flash's bed—theirs, for the time being—and wiggled herself under the covers.

Jubulile lay back down as well.

Neither of them spoke. Though Jubulile seemed to be deep in thought, and Andi herself had a buzzing, teasing, twittering thing to contend with, in her thoughts. Urging her to reach out—so she reached out, curling her arm around Jubulile's waist.

Jubulile turned to face her, and wrapped her arms around Andi in return, with their foreheads barely touching.

Mania and Sleeper slipped out as well, along their hands and shoulders, cementing them together.

Andi closed the gap between them.

Jubulile was warm, and smelled nice, and had soft lips and smooth skin.

Andi smiled into their kiss, Mania threading safety and contentment through her bones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> girls..............


	23. Epilogue: Jubulile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jubulile finally gets to go to the beach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contents:  
> The usual introspection and the usual shy half-flirting :P

Jubulile had mentioned wanting to see the ocean again... And here they were. The boardwalk was covered in snow, and most of the beach itself as well, with a long jagged line where the cold waves and shifting tide had cleared it away. The sky was bright and white with clouds, the sea dark, the sand gray. Sleeper bundled around her; a hat, a scarf, a coat, boots, gloves. Warm and smooth-to-touch. She walked along the edge of the waves very slowly, hands in her pockets, scarf pulled up to cover her nose.

Up the beach, Flash and Eddie bickered about something halfheartedly.

Andi crouched a few feet away, stacking twigs and trash into a little cone. She lit it with her fire, triumphant when she held her hands out over the tiny flame. Mania curled around her shoulders like a scarf.

[ **We don't want to leave.** ]

Jubulile smiled to herself.

"We don't _have_ to leave."

Andi waved her over, so they joined her. Sleeper snaked out a little face, bumping against Andi's shoulder until Mania showed as well, and they twined together. Jubulile watched the miniature bonfire, lost in the cold bite of the wind, in the way she felt the world through Sleeper. She let her mind wander... If they left, where would they go? She had been thinking Rome, or perhaps Morocco. But if they stayed... Could they stay?

She glanced at Andi, who looked away with her face flushed red in the same moment.

Then back, brushing a windblown strand of hair from her face as they made eye contact.

[ **We want to stay with you.** ]

" _Sleeper_." Jubulile poked them where they cuddled up to Mania. "You can't just ask people that."

[ **Why not?** ]

Andi stifled a laugh.

"Because. It's just... not polite."

She could practically feel the eye-roll, not that any of the symbiotes she'd ever met were technically capable of rolling their eyes. And yet... The petulant energies Sleeper emanated... Only Toxin could ever match that.

Andi poked at the fire with a spare stick. "I could ask my aunt..."

"Oh, I couldn't bother you—"

"No, it's no problem. You could sleep in my room. Not for like, forever, but, you know. And classes start soon, but... you could always go exploring while I'm on campus." Andi stuck the twig into the sand, letting it fizzle out. "It could be fun."

Jubulile pursed her lips as she thought.

[ **Please?** ]

She sighed, but smiled.

"Alright. If Andi's auntie says it's okay."

Sleeper burbled happily and Jubulile shook her head.

As if she weren't just as happy.


	24. Epilogue: Eddie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contents:  
> Symbiote talking :3  
> more emotional constipation and flirting  
> family, found family, and love  
> Goodbyes
> 
>  
> 
> I haven't written something this ambitious in literal years and it's been a lot of fun to get back into it like this. There are definitely parts that are a little funky but that's okay! It was a good experience.  
> I don't think I really gave Jubulile as much of her own goal/agency as she should have had as the main POV character, so maybe sometime I'll write a fic that focuses a little bit more on her own goals (and that has less characters all at once lol)  
> But I had fun!  
> Thanks to everyone who's read and commented!  
> Love you guys <3

Duffel bag... backpack... Most of their things. The important things, at least. A blanket Eddie had owned for probably half of his life, a little threadbare but comforting. His very few articles of clothing (mostly faded underwear and socks), a pillow, a stuffed mouse his other held a particular fondness for. The few books he hadn't sold off for spare cash, his notebooks and pens. Some snacks, and his medication—and the forged prescription papers from Flash.

His blender, he'd left at home. The nicest thing he owned. He couldn't easily take it with him on the train, expensive as it had been... Prized as it was. But he trusted it would be safe. He'd given Jubulile the key to the apartment, promising her a safehouse any time she and Sleeper needed one, whether he were in New York, or Philadelphia, or San Francisco, or anywhere else.

San Francisco...

 **Home, Eddie**.

Yes, home. One of several homes. Not because of his father, but because of Mary. Because of Elizabeth and Timothy, and Sanctuary. Not just bad memories. A place to stay, people to care about and people to care about them. People to protect.

 **Not the only people who care about us**.

God, to have his head full of abstractions-turned-to-words, again. Cleansed and rejuvenated by the universe itself. It made him lightheaded with relief. Even with the nightmares—different nightmares, now, though. Not God. Not sickness. Not spawning. Just normal nightmares, from all the shit they'd survived together. He could deal with that. They had each other again, they could work through the middle-of-the-night sweats. Could deal with the remnants of their past.

 **Said I'd always take care of you**.

It had, a thousand times over.

**How long?**

"I don't know, love."

 **We will miss Flash, and Andi. San Francisco is far**.

"I know, love."

**We will come back?**

Of _course_ they would.

Eddie Brock had never stayed in one place long, and neither had Venom.

"Hey—" Flash Thompson, clean-cut, with his scarf loosened in the warmth of the train station, scars barely visible. "Maybe call us sometime, huh?" He gave Eddie a clap on the arm. "Tired of only seeing you two in the middle of a disaster."

Honestly... he wasn't the only one who felt that way.

And the way Eddie could still feel Agent Venom's memories, Flash's memories, even a few of Andi's and Mania's, it all made it that much clearer how much he... cared about them. Loathe as he was to admit emotional attachment or reliance. Moreso in regards to Flash. Especially after their argument. Even after they had... reconciled, as best they could.

Eddie resettled his bag across his shoulder. "Yeah, yeah—don't get your hopes up, pretty-boy. It's not like I have a phone." He grinned, though, sharp as he could make it.

**Eddie...**

"Oh?" Flash raised his eyebrows, and turned his head just-so, smug and teasing. "So you think I'm pretty?" Gave as good as he got, as always.

 **Could learn a thing or two from Flash, Eddie**.

 _Ouch_.

"Ugh, listen, it's great that you guys made up or whatever but would you stop flirting so we can get this over with?" Andi stood with her arms crossed, her posture casual and uncaring. But she leaned very close to Jubulile, shoulders brushing.

Flash reached out, then, half-hesitant. He sort of... took Eddie's wrist, then let go as if he weren't entirely sure of the gesture he wanted. "For real, though." He looked up at Eddie with a mix of melancholy and cautious hope. "You two take care of yourself. Selves. Whatever."

The symbiote caught his fingertips and pulled his hand back with a soft hum.

"Yeah." Eddie nodded, choosing to look down at their hands, joined by blackness, rather than look at Flash's face. "We'll do that."

Over the intercom, boarding announced for his train.

The symbiote let Flash go, and they turned to Jubulile.

She smiled at them, as Sleeper curled out from her shoulders, probably putting off some kind of pheromone or hormone to keep anyone from noticing. Eddie's other reached out a tendril to twine with their child, tender—He pressed a kiss between their red eyes, and then another to Jubulile's forehead. "You two be good, okay?"

Jubulile and Sleeper wrapped their arms around him. He did the same. Like he could hold them forever, never let them go.

He had to let them go, eventually.

He cupped Jubulile's face in his hands—Sleeper half covered it, one eye a ruby, the other sea-blue. Eddie hugged them one more time, murmuring, "I'm so proud of you."

[ **We love you.** ]

"We love you too."

He really had to go now, though, before he missed his train or started crying, or both. (Such a crybaby, since the moment of his birth.) He finally turned away—ruffled Andi's hair, much to her irritation, and clapped Flash on the shoulder one more time before hauling his bags outside, through the wide open door, onto the platform.

This would be... good. He could feel it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> flash and eddie probably still have some issues to work through but they can at least pretend everything's okay for this moment
> 
> (I told you it would have a happy ending.)
> 
> What happens after, if you're curious: 
> 
> Jubulile stays with Andi for a bit then goes back home cause she's homesick, then sleeper and her go do some more traveling with the last of their saved up money, to morocco. then back home again and I don't know what Jubulile does after that... if she's at a university, or working, or what... she's happy though, both of them are, and she might eventually tell her mama about sleeper... toxin, raze and carnage are still mostly dormant, though the more time passes the more they heal and the more they regain consciousness... Jubulile is a good host and a good person, and the light probably purified them all, which may also be speeding their recovery in the same way it did for Eddie's other. Though they also channeled it directly so it may have contributed to their exhaustion, like it did the last time.
> 
> she probably eventually gets a new sailboat, too, and does that in her free time. showing sleeper (and the others) the ocean, even though sleeper probably already knows all about it (or thinks they do)
> 
> andi probably decides on a major at some point but idk what it'd be... she balances school (scholarship) with fighting crime and flash is really proud of her. they train together, mostly physical stuff and keeping in shape for health of mind and body, and he acts as moral support for her school stuff... but at this point she's beyond his level as far as stuff like math and English, and definitely for her actual major.
> 
> Eddie and his other move into one of the Victorian homes in Sanctuary, with Mary too—she has a part time job but a lot of medical bills and if Venom breaks into the place those are stored and permanently destroys like a ton of people's medical debts, well....... no one has to know ;) But it's still pricey to live in SF (or anywhere) and she still has physical therapy and stuff, so she gets part of the house and Eddie and the symbiote get another part of the house and maybe it's kind of weird to live somewhere with multiple rooms but it's fully furnished and it's nice... they're happy.
> 
> The other citizens of the town have been working on figuring out how to get cable or wifi or phone service or SOMETHING connected down there so they don't have to go to the surface every time they want to make a simple call.  
> eddie probably gets his first cellphone. a cheap one, probably a flip phone (yes, they still sell those :P) he still doesn't have a computer or anything, but he goes to the library a lot and can use their computers to submit freelance work, or email Jubulile, or whatever he needs them for. but he still likes doing research with physical books because he finds it grounding.
> 
> Also Eddie and the symbiote often play with or babysit kids for the various residents, during job interviews or while parents are at work or school or looking for food or whatever, and they hang out with the people who don't have any family, too. the disowned teens and old people whose friends and family are all gone. the symbiote sometimes takes dog form around the children especially, but mostly it drapes itself all over eddie like a weird little hug-monster. it's cute.  
> they like to go to the park with the kids, on the surface.
> 
> flash visits him and mary one Christmas—he'd never admit it but Flash dreads the holidays with his mom and sister, not that he doesn't love them but... Mom contributed to a chunk of his insecurities and after all the Agent Venom stuff he kind of worries that they both hate him. He feels guilty but he leaps at the excuse to not spend Christmas with them that year, and goes all the way to SF (though I'm sure he and Andi have their own little party beforehand and he probably at least visits his mom and Jesse before leaving), claiming to only be there for the symbiote... but he does want to be friends, really.
> 
> A bunch of them (Flash, Mary, and whoever else has spare money) chip in to buy like, heinous amounts of pizza and soda for everyone in sanctuary and... it's nice. (Obviously Eddie has to convince them to let Flash in but I think the symbiote helps)  
> they have a good time.


End file.
